Today the ban on Facebook was lifted, after its agreement not to publish contents deemed blasphemous in Pakistan. But the debate about the legitimacy of the ban continues, dividing leading figures and the population.

Lahore (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Lahore High Court, chaired by Justice Ejaz Chaudhry, decided today to lift the ban on the popular website Facebook, the world leader in Internet social networking, shut down on May 20 by a court from the same judge .

The ban was implemented after some Facebook users promoted a Day of Mohammed cartoons, inviting everyone to post images of the prophet on their website page.  But Islam considers any visual depiction of Mohammed blasphemous and in Pakistan there were angry reactions, including street protests, worsening already widespread anti-Western sentiments. The authorities immediately intervened to obscure Facebook, as well as other websites such as YouTube, Wikipedia, Flicker and about 800 sites that published material considered blasphemous.

YouTube was accessible again on May 24 by order of the government and on May 27 the Lahore High Court lifted its ban. The case of the ban of Facebook was discussed today after complaints filed by Islamic lawyers against the site. There was an agreement between Chaudhry Zulfigar, a Pakistani lawyer and chief complainant, and Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to whom Facebook has agreed not disseminate any material considered blasphemous in Pakistan.

The issue is still not been settled and the court has set a new hearing for June 15. Facebook has already blocked access to that page in India, which has the 3rd largest Muslim population in the world.

Facebook is the most popular site among the 170 million Pakistanis.  This has added to the recent debate about the legitimacy of the government deciding what citizens can see.

Many are critical, such as the noted journalist and media scholar Omar Alavi, who said in a television interview that "we are still where we were in 2002. ... We must understand that we will never have enough freedom on the Internet if the Internet industry in Pakistan does not progress to the level of other countries".

This is echoed by Sherry Rehman, an MP and former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, who says it is a violation of the freedom of 170 million people.

Even Interior Minister Rehman Malik said May 26 that it is wrong to deny access to entire web sites, even if blasphemous content should be censored.

Islamabad had already blocked YouTube in 2008 for the presence of the trailer for a film depicting the Koran, the Islamic holy book as a fascist text.

Other Internet users are outraged and say that the freedom of expression does not mean to freedom to offend any religion.  

• pakistan
• facebook
• islam
• mohammad
• internet
• censorship
• blasphemey