ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior ministry said on Friday it had not made any decision on requests by provinces to suspend Internet service to ensure security in Muharram.
The proposals relate to Muharram’s Ashura processions, 10 days of mourning by minority Shiite Muslims. The event is the holiest in the Shiite calendar and commemorates the 7th century death of Imam Hussain and his companions.
Militant groups have often targeted Muharram processions and imambargahs and killed of hundreds of people in the past, but the Pakistani interior ministry said it had neither accepted nor rejected any request in this regard.
“The prime minister will make a final decision whether to suspend Internet or not,” the ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan’s largest Punjab province has also proposed a ban on all social media platforms for six days due to security concerns regarding thousands of religious processions which start next week, provincial information minister Azma Bukhari said on Friday.
The measure was aimed at protecting the minority from sectarian violence, the provincial government wrote in a letter to Pakistan’s interior ministry on Thursday.
The letter said social media platforms such as “Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Tiktok be suspended across the province of Punjab ... in order to control hate material/misinformation.”
Pakistan has blocked access to X since its February election, which the interior ministry said in a court submission in April was due to national security concerns.
Civil and rights groups have criticized the ban as an “attack on freedom of speech and access to information” in a highly polarized country amid allegations of election fraud.
Pakistan says no decision yet on requests by provinces to suspend Internet in Muharram
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Pakistan says no decision yet on requests by provinces to suspend Internet in Muharram
- The proposals relate to Ashura processions in Muharram, 10 days of mourning by minority Shiite Muslims
- The event is holiest in Shiite calendar, commemorates 7th century death of Imam Hussain and companions