Pak to propose 'red lines' for social media service providers

As Pakistan has declared a crackdown on online anti-army campaigners as well as those circulating blasphemous content, the federal government on Tuesday revealed its plan to draw 'red lines' for the social media service providers for operating in the country.

"There will be no restrictions on social media. But, yes, there will be red lines in accordance with the law and Constitution of the country," The Dawn quoted Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as saying in a press conference

However, he assured that nothing illegal was being done and advised critics of the crackdown not to create hurdles or hurl threats.

Referring to the posts on social media following the withdrawal of an ISPR, military's media wing, tweet rejecting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's directive over the Dawn report, he said such posts were unacceptable, particularly at a time when a "war against terror is being waged" to secure the country's future.

The minister added that 27 identifications and eight individuals had been identified and six of them interrogated so far. He said no arrest had been made yet and nobody had been harassed.

Nisar said that he would also ask the National Assembly speaker to convene a meeting of political parties to seek their views on the proposed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the social media service providers. He said systems of different countries were being examined to follow the best practices with respect to the code of conduct and SOPs for the service providers.

He said the service providers would be asked to open their offices in Pakistan, which would be facilitated by the government, and help develop some rules of the game with consensus.

He said the meeting with a representative delegation of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) has agreed to the need for framing a code of conduct for the media on issues related to national Nisar said the proposed code of conduct would be submitted to the government during a specified period and then would be fine-tuned to give it a final shape.