LAHORE: Chief Justice Lahore High Court Muhammad Qasim Khan on Monday while hearing a petition against the government's failure to remove blasphemous material from the internet observed that the situation had been getting worse day by day.

The Chief Justice, in response to a reply of a law officer that FIA was responsible to take action against the objectionable and blasphemous material available on the internet, said.

"What kind of Riasat-i-Madina is it that the basic responsibility is not being fulfilled?"

The Chief Justice asked the law officer if the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had the jurisdiction to lodge a case against Google and directed him to assist the court whether the FIA could register a case against Google if any blasphemous material was not removed.

The Chief Justice also observed that the FIA should establish a wing to exclusively deal with the blasphemous material. The chief justice would resume hearing on December 30 at the Multan bench of the LHC.

A bar member, Azhar Haseeb, sought a direction for the government to get the name of the leader of Ahmadi community as "caliph of Islam" removed from the Google. The lawyer pleaded that when an internet user writes "who is present caliph of Islam" in the Google search engine, the name of the Ahmadi community's leader appears in the answer.

He argued that the law does not allow the Ahmadi community to preach but it has been doing the same through the internet.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020