Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Tuesday made it clear that the government has no plan to impose any restriction on social media but "unbridled" social media is unacceptable in a democratic country. "Let me assure that there will be no restriction on social media but yes there will be a redline in accordance with law and the Constitution of Pakistan," he said while addressing a news conference, following a meeting with the representatives of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and members of Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) on Dawn Leaks report and the media code of conduct.
Dispelling the impression that social media is under attack, the interior minister said that social media is not under attack but country's laws are under attack from social media. "Do not confuse this matter. There will be no ban on social media but unrestrained social media is not allowed in any democratic country," he pointed out.
He said that following the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he directed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate the anti-army campaign on social media. "I had given clear-cut directions to the FIA to take an across-the-board action against all the people involved in a vilification campaign against military on social media platforms even if someone is from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)." Nisar said the FIA has identified 27 social media accounts in this regard and identified eight people as well. "Out of eight people, the FIA has interviewed six people so far. This process is continued but no one has been arrested so far and no one has been harassed," he added.
He said that the people who have been identified by the FIA are allowed to be assisted by their lawyers during their questioning. "Their devices including mobiles and computers will be checked forensically, and if they have not completely removed the posts, the accused will be arrested," he clarified.
The interior minister said it is neither his nor the PML-N's issue but it is a society's issue. He asked Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan to identify any worker of PML-N involved in anti-army campaign and then he will take action against him. "No one can stop us from taking action against those who misuse social media as we are not committing any illegal act," he elaborated.
He said they all realise the importance of social media but there are rules for every institution, organisation or the government. Unfortunately, there are no rules for social media over here. "We will not let anyone develop a free for all system as social media has far-reaching impacts," he said.
"We are planning to form some standard operating procedures (SOPs) for social media and in this regard regular meetings will be held with media bodies," he said, adding that monitoring would continue in order to form SOPs. There is a proposal that each person's social media account be connected with his or her cellphone, he added. Nisar noted that many offensive comments regarding armed forces have been posted on social media over the last few weeks. "On one hand, our armed forces and civil forces are sacrificing their lives while on the other, they are being ridiculed on social media," he deplored.
He claimed that FIA's crackdown on blasphemous posts resulted in a significant drop in offensive material being posted online. Regarding threats of social mobilisation and street agitation against the government by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose activists have been questioned, he said, "Do whatever you can. We are not doing anything unlawful."
About the meeting with the members of APNS, CPNE and PBA, he said that they exchanged views on the Dawn Leaks committee report, national security, media code of conduct and government-media relations. First there was confusion that the recommendation of Dawn Leaks report should have been dispatched to the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), instead of APNS. He said that he told the members of APNS and CPNE that he could not talk on behalf of the inquiry committee but "we need to work together and need to take these recommendations forward."
He said the participants of the meeting agreed to a code of conduct regarding the national security. It has been decided that the ANPS, CPNE and PBA would form a committee for devising a code of conduct on national security. "The code of conduct proposed by the committee of journalist bodies would be shared with the government and it would be given a final shape," he said.