IHC summons Nisar over blasphemy on social sites

ISLAMABAD: Hearing a contempt petition against non-implementation of court orders regarding blockage of blasphemous content on the social media, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to appear before the court in person on Wednesday (today).

The bench in its order noted: “This matter requires immediate attention, otherwise patience of the followers of Holy Prophet (S.A.W) may run out of control. Due to delicacy, importance and seriousness of the issue, let the honourable Minister for Interior Ch Nisar Ali Khan be directed to appear in person for tomorrow i.e. 08.03.2017, who is expected to take some steps in his own supervision to eliminate this evil, even at the cost of blocking entire social media”.

Inspector General (IG), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), appeared before the court and assured that he was ready to take action if the court passes an order.Dictating order, Justice Siddiqui burst into tears and observed: “The most sacred personality of Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W) who will be our Saviour on the Day of Judgement, blasphemy has been committed against him. We would not leave this issue to bureaucracy to handle. There will be proceedings against the blasphemers and against those who remained silent spectators. This is the greatest form of terrorism and people involved in this heinous act are biggest terrorists.

“It is shameful that a delicate and sensitive matter in hand remained unattended by the executive of the country. It is also painful that secretary Ministry of Interior did not bother to put appearance and preferred to attend some office meeting. This court has already observed that if some action in accordance with law in not taken against the culprits, who through stinking approach and shameful acts are indulged in constant disrespect/dishonour of Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W), his companions (Sahaba-e-Karam R.A), Ahl-e-Bayt, pious wives of Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W), the Holy Quran and even Allah Almighty, very serious law and order situation may disrupt the working of entire country”.

On February 27 the IHC bench had directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block pages or websites containing blasphemous material on the social media.  This is what petitioner Salman Shahid has been seeking with legal proceedings against the page administrators.

The petitioner has nominated Arif Ahmad Khan, Secretary Ministry of Interior, Azmat Ali Ranjha Secretary Ministry of Information Technology, DG FIA Muhammad Amlish, Dr Syed Ismail Shah Chairman PTA and Tariq Sultan Member Finance/Acting Chairman PTA as respondents.

Rizwan Bashir Khan, secretary MOIT;, Syed Ismail Shah, Chairman PTA; Inspector General Islamabad Capital Territory police Tariq Masood Yasin; SSP (operation), Sajid Mehmood Kiani and officers of FIA appeared before the court on Tuesday.