Pakistan's Punjab province set to ban social media platforms for 6 days during Muharram
Lahore (PTI): The government in Pakistan's Punjab province is now set to ban all social media platforms -- YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok -- for six days between July 13 and 18, citing the need to control "hate material" during the Islamic month of Muharram.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's cabinet committee on law and order has recommended banning all social media platforms -- YouTube, X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others -- during the 6th to 11th day of Muharram (July 13-18) in Punjab, a province of over 120 million people, to "control hate material, misinformation to avoid sectarian violence", according to a notification issued here late Thursday night.
The Punjab government has also requested her uncle Shehbaz Sharif's government at the Centre to notify the suspension of all social media platforms on the internet for six days (July 13-18).
The provincial government has decided to go beyond the routine measures of internet suspension and mobile jamming over Ashura, after getting reports that ‘external forces’, including elements from across the border, were involved in the sharing of hate content and memes, Dawn News reported.
Sources said the Punjab government had initially deliberated that social media apps be shut down on Muharram 9 and 10.
Muharram -- the period of recalling and mourning the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain by the community of Shia Muslims -- marks the first month of the Islamic Calendar.
A greater amount of importance is placed on the first ten days of the festival. On the tenth day, Shia Muslims take out processions via streets.
Cabinet Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani acknowledged that the cabinet committee had put forward a suggestion to close social media apps to avoid dissemination of hate content.
Kirmani said a meeting over the issue discussed that hate content increases manifolds on social media apps, particularly Facebook and X during Muharram, which eventually becomes a bone of contention between two sects instead of the two persons involved.
“Dissemination of hate content creates bad blood and spoils the overall environment, particularly during Muharram,” he said and added that shutting down social media apps was recommended before, during and a day after Muharram.
Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir has already declared social media a "vicious media" and underscored the need to fight what he called "digital terrorism".
Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, who also holds the portfolio of foreign minister, recently called for placing a complete ban on social media.
The Shehbaz Sharif government had shut down X last February following allegations of change of general election results by the Election Commission of Pakistan, apparently on the order of the military establishment to stop Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party's jailed founder Imran Khan from coming to power.
Both the military and the government have been receiving backlash on social media since the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.
The government has arrested dozens of social media activists of Khan's party since then.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
