Pakistan seeks Interpol help to curb online blasphemy

Islamabad: Pakistan has sought Interpol`s help to identify social media pages that contain inflammatory and sacrilegious content that violates international laws, the media reported on Thursday.

The Federal Inves­tigation Agency (FIA) has also sent a formal request to social networking site Facebook in the light of court rulings regarding the blocking of blasphemous material online, agency officials told a high-level meeting said on Wednesday.

Chaired by Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, the meeting was held to review ongoing investigations into the circulation of blasphemous content on social media sites to ensure immediate blocking and swift punishment of those behind these acts, Dawn news reported.

An interior ministry statement said at least 11 people involved in uploading and sharing objectionable material had been identified and were being questioned.

The FIA would also seek help from Interpol in questioning some of the suspects.

The minister said the government would use all available options to ensure the removal of blasphemous material from social media sites.

"I hope that the management of Facebook will respect the religious sentiments of 200 million Pakistanis and tens of millions of users of Facebook in Pakistan and will cooperate in that regard," he said.