Daily Times

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has emphasized on the vital role of the media and the people associated with it in dealing with offensive content on social media. The Ministry has formulated comprehensive guidelines keeping in view the media’s significant role to prevent blasphemous content on social media. According to the guidelines, issues here, it is essential to launch a public awareness drive in all sections of media to discourage the obscene content and highlight related laws and government initiatives to meet this menace of the society. The people must report blasphemous content on social media to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) or Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony for timely handling the situation within the domain of laws and the Constitution.

As per reports, presently more than 100 million people are using social media in the country and the evil of profane and insulting content on this platform is spreading rapidly. The spread of content can be estimated from the fact that four people together formed a blasphemy group in 2019. In 2022, when FIA Cybercrime Wing caught them, the number of members of this group had increased to more than 32,000. Therefore, controlling this epidemic is not just a matter of a few people as the entire nation has to play its part, the government institutions have to fulfill their responsibilities, and media and people associated with it should highlight this burgeoning religious issue through all means of communication.

The Ministry has emphasized that while there is a need to discourage such content through the media, public awareness regarding the relevant laws of Pakistan and the government-level management of obscene content is also crucial. Highlighting responsibility of the parents in the current situation, the Ministry has asked the media to conduct a special campaign for them as parents are the main source of providing mobile, laptop and internet facilities to their children and they should also keep an eye on what their children see on the social media, lest the children follow a wrong path in ignorance and reach the point of insolence through porn videos.

Special attention has also drawn to the fact that in this era of social media and print media, the message of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)’s biography containing humanity, decency and good morals should be presented in a very efficient and effective manner, through writing, speech, and small videoclips, etcetera. The manners and virtues of the Last Messenger of Allah Almighty (Peace Be Upon Him) should be presented in different languages so that His exemplary aspects of life be highlighted in actual context at all forums of the society.

The Ministry has urged the media to telecast the programmes related to the biography of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in order to respond this insolence by presenting the role of a true Muslim in light of divine commands and Sunnah.