To curb uploading of blasphemous content: Installation of system sought

MANSEHRA: A group of lawyers on Saturday demanded the government to put in place a system on Facebook to curb uploading of blasphemous content robotically.

“Currently, over 200 people, including youngsters and students, are languishing in jail under allegations of uploading blasphemous material on FB and if the government is sincere to bring down such cases, it should install a filtration system on the social media networking site,” Shaista Chaudhry, a member of the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan, told reporters here.

She said that the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan was also holding sessions at universities and colleges to sensitise students and academia about the consequences of uploading blasphemous content knowingly or unknowingly on FB. “Those arrested under section 295-C Ppc include students and computer and other professionals,” Chaudhry said.

She said that two countries around the world - the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Great Britain - had installed filtration mechanisms on Facebook resultantly nobody being able to upload sacrilegious content.

“Some youngsters from Hazara division are also behind bars under section 295-C of Ppc, who allegedly uploaded blasphemous material on the FC and their cases are under trial in courts in parts of the country,” Chaudhry said.

She said that a technical team of foreign experts also visited Pakistan and suggested an investment of around Rs1 billion to install such a filtration system to curb the uploading of sacrilegious content on Facebook but the government was yet to decide on the installation of that system which works automatically.