[governance] Pakistan Facebook Detailed Order
Fouad Bajwa
fouadbajwa at gmail.com
Thu Jun 3 18:38:09 EDT 2010
Facebook ban was lifted in Pakistan on the 1st of June 2010. The following
court orders and proceedings are being shared for information purposes only.
A special thank you note to Barrister Zahid Jamil for sharing this
elsewhere. Zahid also clarified that the text below has not been proofed or
checked by him nor has it been checked by anyone else for typos and hence
should not be relied upon as official/authoritative text of the order and is
a best effort on someone’s part to quickly type out a copy of the order. He
made this available under this understanding and under a complete disclaimer
from any liability as to its use by anyone.
Form No: HCJD/C-121
ORDER SHEET
IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT, LAHORE
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Writ Petition No.10392 of 2010
Islamic Lawyers Movement
Petitioner
Versus
Federation of Pakistan and three others
Respondents
S. No. of
Order/
Proceeding
Date of order/
Proceeding
Order with signature of Judge, and that of parties or counsel, where
necessary
03) 31.05.2010 M/s. Zulfiqar Ahmed and
Muhammad
Azhar Siddique,
Advocates for the
Petitioner.
Mr. Naveed
Inayat Malik, Deputy
Attorney-General
for the Respondents
with Mudassar
Hussain, Director,
Telecom
Wireless.
As per the directions of this Court vide order dated 19.05.2010
the Ministry of Foreign affairs on its directions contacted the Embassy of
Pakistan in the United States of America. The Embassy of Pakistan in United
States of America, at “3517 International Court, NW. WASHINGTON, D.C. 2008,
Tel: (202) 243-6500,” represented the following to the United States
Department of State.
“No.
Pol-4/2/10
21 May 2010
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan presents its
compliments to the Unites State Department State and has the honor to lodge
a protest over the holding of a blasphemes contests, “EVERYBODY DRAW
MUHAMMAD DAY” by the website “Facebook” and its affiliates. The
announcement of this contest has immensely hurt and discomforted the people
and the Government of Pakistan. It was also deliberately and recklessly
enraged millions of Muslims in Pakistan and globally, who attach an immense
sanctity to the very holy and sacred status of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be
Upon Him).
It is the understanding of the Government of Pakistan that as
per the laws of commerce and Business, the website ‘Facebook’ is governed by
the legal jurisdiction of the United States of America. Accordingly, the
Government of Pakistan strongly urges the Government of the United States of
America to take effective measure to prevent, stop or block this blasphemous
contest immediately.
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan avails itself of
this opportunity to renew to the United States Department of State the
assurances of its highest consideration.
The US Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs,
(Mr. Brent R. Hartley,
Director, Pakistan-Bangladesh Desk),
2201, C. Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20520.
Fax: 202-647-3001.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
received the above stated protest via a fax message No.Pol.4/2/10
dated 21stMay 2010 from the Embassy of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
which mentioned
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fax message “No.AS(Americas)-1/2010 dated 20
th May 2010” stating that an official protest was lodged with the United
States Government Department of State.
3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
submitted its reply to the Deputy Attorney-General of Pakistan Mr. Naveed
Inayat Malik as under:-
*MOST IMMEDIATE*
25 May 2010
“No.DG (Americas)-1/2010
SUBJECT: *W.P. NO.10392/10-TITLED ISLAMIC*
*LAWYERS MOVEMENT, VS. FOP ETC*.
*IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT, LAHORE.*
Please refer to this Ministry’s letter of even number dated 21
May 2010 on the above subject.
As directed by the Honourable Lahore High Court order, our
Embassy in Washington was instructed to lodge an official protest with the
U.S. Department of State, which was done on 21 May 2010. A copy of the
protest note is submitted for information of the Honourable Court.
While expressing the feelings of immense discomfort and hurt
felt by the Government and the people of Pakistan about the contest, the
U.S. Government was strongly urged to take effective measures to prevent,
stop or block this blasphemous contest immediately.
President Obama’s Special Representative for Pakistan and
Afghanistan Mr. Richard Holbrooke, in his meeting with our Ambassador,
conveyed that the U.S. Department of State recognized the sensitivities
about the issue and also admitted that many of the images that appeared on
the Facebook were “{deeply offensive” and that the U.S. Government was
deeply concerned about any deliberate attempt to offend Muslims or members
of any other religious groups.
Yours sincerely,
*(Sohail Khan)*
Director General (Americas)
Encl: *As above*.
Mr. Naveed Inayat Malik,
Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan
High Court Building
Lahore.”
4. While respondents No.3 and 4 have also submitted written reply
which is reproduced as under:
*That his Hon’ble High Court through the letter dated 18th May, 2010 of the
Deputy Attorney-General for Pakistan Mr. Naveed Inayat Malik forwarded the
copy of the captioned petition of Islamic Lawyer Movement regarding the
issue of, “Every Body Draw Muhammad Day” on the website namely “Facebook”
and thereby requiring the answering Respondents No.3 and 4 to submit report
and parawise comments in the instant matter.*
* *
*2. “That pursuant to the directions of this Hon’ble High Court
communicated to the answering respondents No.3 nd 4 by the Ministry of
Information Technology (MoIT) vide letter No.5-1/2005-DFU, dated 18th May,
2010 and requiring the answering Respondents to block the mentioned website
on Universal Resource Locator (URL) level immediately and to inform the MoIT
accordingly. Soon upon the receipt of said directions the answering
Respondents, i.e. PTA in respectful compliance of this Hon’ble High Court’s
directions dated 18th May 2010, issued directions vide letter
No.2-Misc/2010/Enf/PTA dated 18th May, 2010 to all Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) to immediately block the mentioned Website at URL level and
continuously monitor the same to ensure compliant with the instructions of
the Authority (Copies of said MoIT and PTA’s letters are annexed as Annexure
“A” & “B”).*
* *
*3. That on the next day MoIT vide letter No.5-1/2005-DFU
dated 19thMay, 2010 required the answering respondents to block
mentioned website on
Internet Protocol (IP) level immediately. Pursuant to this direction of
MoIT, the answering respondents again issued directions vide letter
No.2-Misc/2010/Enf/PTA dated 19th May, 2010 to all ISPs to immediately block
the mentioned Website at IP level and continuously monitor the same to
ensure compliance with the instructions of the Authority (copies of said
MoIT and PTA’s letters are annexed as Annexure “C” & “D”). It is worth
mentioning here that the answering Respondents, with the aim and objective
of sound/secure enforcement and compliance of this Hon’ble Court’s
directions in the instant matter of grave concern of all the citizen of
Pakistan established a dedicated “Crises Cell” exclusively
working/monitoring on 24 hrs basis to observe the directions in true letter
and spirit. It is also worthy pointing out here that the answering
Respondents, while mindful of this Hon’ble Court’s directions in the instant
manner and during the course of monitoring of the mentioned Website, found
that the mentioned website was accessible from the Mobile Black Berry
Service (MBBS) as the main control of this service is outside the country.
Accordingly, MBBS was blocked by answering Respondents on 20th May, 2010 at
12:30 a.m. with a view to block access to the mentioned Website in
Pakistan. However, MBBS was later restored only for the e-mail access and
not for the Internet Surfing. In addition, the answering Respondents during
the course of strict monitoring found that majority of objectionable
contents was reported on ”YouTube” Website, leaving the answering
Respondents with no other option but to block the viewing of “YouTube”
Website also in Pakistasn. This fact was intimated to MoIT by the answering
Respondents vide letter No.10/12/Dir(ICT)PTA/10 dated 20th May, 2010, as the
subject of “Content Regulation” does not fall within the domain of answering
Respondents (Copy of said PTA’s letter annexed as Annexure “E”).*
* *
*4. That the answering Respondents, in respectful compliance of this
Hon’ble High Court’s directions and the MoIT’s directives to, have blocked
up until now a total of 10,548 web-links (approximately) either hosting the
objectionable contents or providing access to the same mentioned blasphemous
contents. As mentioned earlier, till date two websites namely
http://www.facebook.com *and *http://www.youtube.com have been completely
blocked in Pakistan. The complete blocking of “YouTube” was done because of
the number of objectionable links be increased to such an extent that PTA
had no option but to block the whole website.*
* *
*5. It also worth considering here that the answering respondents on
their own have no authority to cause blocking of any website(s) rather it
has to follow the decision/directions of Inter-ministerial Committee for
Evaluation of Offensive Websites, formed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan
in the year 2006. The meetings of the committee are held in MoIT on regular
basis, wherein it reviews the cases and complaints received with regard to
offensive website and grant approval for blocking of the same. As a
consequence, the answering Respondents cause blocking of such websites as
and when communicated through MoIT.*
* *
*6. The following report is hereby submitted in respectful
compliance of the aforementioned orders/directions of this Hon’ble High
Court. *
* *
5. That due to the immediate and efficient response of the concerned
Departments of the Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan the
blasphemous contents published on the portal “Facebook” was blocked and the
access to the portal “Facebook” was blocked for its subscribers and
non-subscribers in the territory of Islamic Republic of Pakistan with
immediate effect. After perusing the above said steps taken by the Foreign
Ministry for lodging an official and sovereign protest to the United States
of America’s Department of State as well as reply submitted by Government of
Pakistan, Ministry of Information Technology (IT & Telecom Division) this
Court feels that some effective measure in respect of publication of
blasphemous contest have been taken. Thus, the order regarding blockage of
website URL, http://www.facebook.com is recalled.
6. Although the efficient and effective measures of the Government
of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, considering the sensitivity of the core
issue, are worthy of praise and appreciation, this Court objectively
reserves considerable apprehensions regarding a lack of effective mechanisms
which could ensure avoidance of any such like events occurring in future,
leading to unrest and chaos in the society.
7. There are many and numerous countries with majority Muslim
populations who have many sustainable and effective mechanisms in place
which block or deny, to the general public, access to such blasphemous
contents. The example of such countries could include the countries of
majority of Muslim population in Middle East and Asia.
8. This Court directs PTA, MoIT and all other related and concerned
authorities, dealing with regulation and monitoring of telecommunication and
internet access to the general public, to come up with effective monitoring
control and implementation guidelines regarding access towards such
blasphemous contents over the internet. As a matter of reference these
guidelines could be borrowed from the telecommunication and internet
regulatory authorities of the above mentioned countries.
9. It should be made clear to PTA and MoIT authorities that a
contextual summary of effective monitoring, control and implementation
guidelines regarding access to such blasphemous and objectionable contents
available over the internet should be submitted to this Court in a the
detailed, comprehensive and written format by the next date of hearing.
10. There are now available International Regulations regarding the
publication of blasphemous contents. The United Nations Resolution on,
“Combating Defamation of Religious”, No..62/154, reproduced as per the
official data available regarding this Resolution on the United Nations
portal was came into force on 181.12.2007. This Resolution came into its
final structure *vide* a Resolution, “A/C 3/62/L.35, reproduced as per the
official data regarding this Resolution on United Nations portal was
presented and voted at on 20th November 2007 with 95 votes in favour, 52
against and 30 absentees. Thus, passing the resolution and making it part
of the International Law regime. The Government of Islamic Republic of
Pakistan and other countries of Muslim majority voted in favour of this
resolution.
11. The genesis of this resolution, “Combating of Defamation of
Religious”, which deals with laws governing the effective control of
Anti-Religious materials publication in the individual countries, had its
origins in the 1999 Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) Conference where
Pakistan drafted and presented the resolution, “Combating Defamation of
Islam”, which was passed by the delegates present at the conference. The
title of this resolution was subsequently changed to, “Combating Defamation
of Religions” to broaden the scope and implications. Since 1999, this
resolution “Combating Defamation of Religions” was presented at the United
Nations Human Rights Commission. In 2005 a parallel resolution was
presented at the General Assembly of the United Nations as well. The
resolution “Combating Defamation of Religions” came into in its present
state when the Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and other
countries of Muslim majority population who wanted and to inform and
enlighten the world regarding the deeply sentimental and sensitive
perspectives of there majority population regarding publications of
Anti-Religious and blasphemous contents. These countries comprising of
majority Muslim population resolved and worked together to formulate an
international regime administering the publication of Anti-Religious and
blasphemous contents, which would to govern the future conduct of States and
individuals regarding the publication of Anti-Religious and blasphemous
contents. Although this above mentioned resolution is non-binding in
nature, still the critics of this resolution hypothesize its far reaching
consequences to be a deliberate attempt to regulate not just the lives of
individuals but also the context, thus, breaching an individual’s
universally accepted rights of freedom of expression and speech.
12. That it would be pertinent to mention that the cannons of Islam do
not prohibit or limit any individual’s right to freedom of expression and
speech rather it cumulates the phrase “*Your liberty ends where the nose of
other person starts”*, meaning thereby that any right to freedom of
expression and speech of one person would not prejudice the right of self
respect and dignity of the other person.
13. The core issue involved in this matter is the publication and
advertisement of blasphemous material which was viewed as a deliberate or
reckless attempt to malign the very holy and sanctimonious stature of
Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), on “Facebook”. This
had deeply hurt and emotionally injured individual and collective sentiments
of hundreds of millions of Muslims not just living in the geographical
territory of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Keeping in view this deeply
sensitive e and emotional attachment the majority population of Islamic
Republic of Pakistan experiences towards the Prophet of Islam, Hazrat
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), any regulations made for the protection of
there deeply sensitive and emotional sentiments should not be viewed as in
conflict with and individual’s universally accepted rights of freedom,
expressions and speech.
14. Keeping in view the protection of deeply sensitive and emotional
values of the majority population of Pakistan, and for the purpose of
keeping harmony and peace in the society this Court directs the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Islamic Republic of Pakistan to direct its Permanent
Ambassador to the United Nations at its Headquarter in New York to present a
resolution in the General Assembly of United Nations, in context with the
United Nations Resolution, “Combating Defamation of Religions” conveying the
hurt and discomfort suffered by the majority population of Pakistan by the
publication and promotion of such blasphemous material on “Facebook”.
15. This Court directs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Government
of Pakistan to comply with the above mentioned directions of this Court in
letter and spirit by the next date of hearing and to submit a written and
official copy of this direction given to the Permanent Ambassador of Islamic
Republic of Pakistan to the United Nations regarding the presentation of a
resolution to the United Nations General Assembly conveying the hurt and
discomfort suffered by the majority population of Islamic Republic of
Pakistan by publication and promotion of such blasphemous material on
“Facebook”.
16. In case of non-compliance of these above mentioned directions of
this Court by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of
Pakistan in relation to specific directions to the Permanent Ambassador of
Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United Nations to present a resolution
in the General Assembly of United Nations, conveying the hurt and discomfort
suffered by the majority population of Islamic Republic of Pakistan by
publication and promotion of such blasphemous material on “Facebook” the
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has to appear in
this Court in person to explain why he has not complied with the directions
of this Court in exact letter and spirit.
17. The Office is directed to send a copy of this order to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Pakistan through fax,
today.
18. To come up on 15.06.2010.
Sd/-
(Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry)
Judge
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20100604/f8572f01/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org
For all list information and functions, see:
http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
More information about the Governance
mailing list