Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will decide the fate of social media platforms such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok during the Muharram festival after the Punjab government sought a ban on them citing the need to control “hateful content”.
Shia Muslims gather in large numbers during this festival to commemorate the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet of Islam.
Muslims generally commemorate his martyrdom as a symbol of resistance to tyranny, and Shia Muslims hold rallies during the first ten days of Muharram, culminating in huge processions on the 9th and 10th of the month.
Sunni Muslims have a historic religious rivalry with Shias, and extremist Sunni groups in Pakistan regard them as heretics and target them with bombings, with several such attacks in the past in Pakistan.
To disrupt communications between militants, Pakistani governments traditionally take extensive security measures during Muharram, including suspending the internet, cell phone and social media services to avoid terrorist acts.
The Punjab government had requested the federal government to suspend access to social media from July 6 to 11 to prevent communal violence and control the spread of misinformation and hate content.
This week, the provincial home department, through a letter to the home ministry, recommended suspending “Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, X, TikTok, etc across the province.”
According to a statement issued late night, after a meeting on Friday, the Home Ministry postponed the decision on the request of the Punjab government.
It said Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif would take a final decision on the matter, adding that the provinces’ requests “have neither been rejected nor accepted.”
The statement did not say which other provinces apart from Punjab had made such a request, but it indicated that Punjab was not the only state to make such a request.
Muharram is expected to start on Sunday or Monday if the moon is sighted.
Besides, a group of clerics entrusted with the task of moon sighting is meeting this evening to decide on the beginning of Muharram.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
