Rawalpindi:

The Rawal Pindi bench from Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued directives to the federal and provincial governments of immediate action against blasphemy on social media, including the prevention of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Holy Qur’an and all holy personalities.

The court on his 16-page detailed judgment further ordered the immediate termination of all types of VPNs, registration of all social mediation vocabulations and the establishment of special courts nationwide, corresponding to neighboring and anti-terrorism courts (ATCs). It also ordered the appointment of dedicated judges to these courts, the creation of a special wing in the federal investigative agency (FIA) to combat blasphemy and the creation of a Counter Blasphemy Department (CBD) modeled by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).

In addition, the Court directed compliance with International Islamophobia -Day as “The Honorary Day of the Prophet” every year on March 15.

The court issued these guidelines after approving all related petitions filed by Umar Nawaz and Aamir Zafar. A detailed sentence of 16 pages was released regarding the petitions trying to limit the growing campaign for blasphemy on social media and called for strict actions.

In the decision, justice issued Abdul Aziz’s instructions to the federal and Punjab governments, the FIA, PTA and the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and urged them to identify NGOs that support the publication or upload such content under the form of freedom of expression.

The court also directed meetings with social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to inform them of the strong feelings of the Muslim community and require immediate removal of such offensive positions. FIA’s cybercrime wing was instructed to be authorized with more resources and financing. The court also recommended to include material in the education plan to encourage children to use social media positively.

The verdict emphasized that the Pakistani state must play an active role in ending the rising trend of blasphemy on social media, with PTA conducting attention campaigns by uploading positive videos. Furthermore, people who commit blasphemy who have mental health problems must be treated and preventative measures must be taken to avoid events such as the Sialkot tragedy, the Gojra incident, Shanti Nagar and the killing of the Srillanian manager at Sialkot.

The court recommended the formation of expert advice for scholars at division and district levels to prevent vigilante justice and ensure that suspects are quickly withheld, followed by transparent studies. Cases must then formally be registered and litigation.

The court expressed strong dissatisfaction with the role of state institutions and ordered PTA to develop an immediate mechanism to remove blasphemous material from social media platforms. It also ordered that bloggers involved in such crimes that have fled abroad should be brought back to litigation.

The detailed judgment has been sent for immediate implementation to the federal and provincial governments, chief secretaries, relevant ministries, FIA, PTA, MOI and social media companies.