Lahore High Court Lifts Ban on Facebook

Adil Najam

The news is finally in. As expected, the Lahore High Court has lifted the ban it had earlier imposed on the social networking site, Facebook.

So, what is the lesson in all of this? Who gained what in this entire episode? And who lost what?

The essentials of the news, as reported in The Express Tribune, are as follows:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) lifted the ban on social networking website Facebook on Monday. During today’s proceedings, the court demanded gaurantees that such content will not be accessible to users in Pakistan. The court observed that the act would be treated as contempt of court if it is repeated again. Meanwhile, deputy attorney general and PTA representative assured the court it would not happen again.

The court also outlined the government’s responsibility in such cases. The Lahore High Court banned Facebook on May 19 for hosting a blasphemous drawing contest and asked PTA to submit a written reply. Menwhile, the next hearing was adjourned till June 15. The popular social networking website was banned by the Lahore High Court after a controversy over it hosting blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Muslims across the world were offended by a Facebook page which declared May 20 a day to caricature Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Despite a growing surge of protests by Muslims, Facebook had opted not to remove the page. The court had temporarily banned the social networking site Facebook till May 31 across the country. It had issued the order after an Islamic forum of lawyers sought ban on access to the popular social networking site for holding a contest of drawing caricatures on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).