Blasphemy warning texts sent to millions

Army backs off

ISLAMABAD, May 11, (Agencies): Millions of Pakistanis have been receiving text messages from the government warning them against sharing “blasphemous” content online, a move rights activists said would encourage more vigilante attacks.

It comes amid a surge in mob violence linked to accusations of insulting Islam including three attacks within the past month.

“Uploading & sharing of blasphemous content on Internet is a punishable offense under the law. Such content should be reported on info@pta. gov.pk for legal action,” read the SMS sent by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to all mobile phone subscribers.

A similar note was posted on the agency’s website in Urdu. A PTA spokesman said the agency was acting on a court order.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in conservative Muslim Pakistan, with unproven allegations leading to dozens of mob attacks or murders since 1990.

The law was originally inherited from Pakistan’s former colonial masters Britain, but strengthened by former dictator Zia-ul-Haq in 1986 to include a provision for capital punishment in cases of insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Activists said the initiative would likely encourage lynchings, such as the killing of a 23-year-old student known for his liberal views at the hands of hundreds of fellow students last month. “This mass messaging will only further fuel hatred among different sects and segments of the society. It is a very very bad move,” digital rights activist Shahzad Ahmad told AFP.

“PTA’s mass texting on ‘blasphemy’ smacks of insincerity and political exploitation of religion; it will embolden public to greater violence!,” tweeted popular television anchor Moeed Pirzada.

Last week a 10-year-old boy was killed and five others were wounded when a mob attacked a police station in an attempt to lynch a Hindu man charged with blasphemy for allegedly posting an incendiary image on social media.

Zia-ul-Haq

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Pakistan’s military backed off on Wednesday after publicly questioning the prime minister’s decision to sack an adviser over an explosive newspaper article alleging a rift between the country’s civilian government and the military.

Government-military relations are a sensitive topic in Pakistan, which has had a history of military coups since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif fired a senior adviser over a front-page article last year in the Dawn newspaper alleging the rift.

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, a military spokesman, subsequently questioned the firing in a tweet, saying it was not in line with the findings of an inquiry that was set up to determine who leaked information to journalist Cyril Almeida about a top-level security meeting.

Almeida, in a front page article in Dawn, had reported that the government asked the military’s Inter-Service Intelligence spy agency to act against militants or face international isolation.

The military on Wednesday released a statement saying Ghafoor’s tweet had been withdrawn and that the issue had been settled. It also said the tweet was not “aimed at any government office or person,” and reaffirmed the army’s commitment to uphold the constitution and support the democratic process. Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa met with the prime minister in Islamabad earlier in the day, apparently in an effort to defuse tensions.

Ghafoor told reporters his tweet had been misinterpreted to give an impression the army and the government were not on the same page. He also said the issue of the media leak to Dawn had been “resolved” and that the Ministry of Interior had fully “implemented recommendations” of the inquiry board in the leak to Almeida. He did not elaborate.

The ministry said it had referred the matter of Almedida and Dawn to All Pakistan News Papers Society, an organization of newspaper owners, for “disciplinary action.”