Blasphemous content: Can a case be filed against Google in Pakistan, asks Lahore court

• Advocate Azhar Haseeb filed a petition seeking direction for the government to remove blasphemous content from the internet.
  
• The judge observed that the situation is getting worse day by day. 
  
• The FIA should establish a wing to exclusively deal with blasphemous material, rules an LHC judge. 
  

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Chief (LHC) asked a federal law officer if the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had the jurisdiction to lodge a case against Google, The News reported on Tuesday.

Advocate Azhar Haseeb filed a petition seeking direction for the government to get the name of a leader of the Ahmadi community as caliph of Islam removed from Google's database. 

The lawyer pleaded that when an internet user writes “who is the present caliph of Islam” in the Google search engine, the name of an Ahmadi leader appears.

Several officials of the FIA were present in court in compliance with the chief justice’s direction issued on the previous hearing. 

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Hearing a petition against the government’s failure in removing blasphemous material on the internet, Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan directed the law officer to assist on a point whether the FIA could register a case against Google if any blasphemous material is not removed.

The deputy attorney-general admitted that the FIA is responsible to take action against objectionable and blasphemous material available on the internet.

The judge observed that the situation is getting worse day by day. “What kind of Riasat-i-Madina is it that the basic responsibility is not being fulfilled”? he wondered.

Ruling that the FIA should establish a wing to exclusively deal with blasphemous material, the chief justice asked the law officer as to what action the FIA could take if someone from outside the country was involved in spreading blasphemous material on the internet. 

The chief justice will resume the hearing on December 30 at the Multan bench of the LHC.