Facebook faces the threat of permanent ban in Pak

LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Pakistan's war with social networking site Facebook reached a new level today, as the Lahore High Court (LHC) sought the stance of Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on a permanent ban on Facebook.

The petition filed by Judicial Activism Panel prayed that Facebook might be permanently blocked in Pakistan for placing objectionable and blasphemous caricatures.

It was based on this petition that justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry of the Lahore high sought the stance of the PTA to the demand for a permanent ban on Facebook, said a PTI report.

In his petition, Judicial Activism Panel chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique sought a permanent ban on the website as it was hosting a page with a contest named 'Everybody Burn Quran Day'. Siddique said in his petition that Facebook was also displaying blasphemous pictures of 'Khana-e-Kaaba'.

Facebook was recently banned in Pakistan following a competition to draw caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. However, the ban was later lifted. The site has been facing serious problem sin the country, and there was even demands that death sentence should be pronounced on its CEO. Islamic group Jamaat-ud-Dawah is mounting pressure on Pakistani authorities to ban Facebook.

However, there are reports that pages carrying 'blasphemous content' are still accessible in Pakistan.