The government in Pakistan’s Punjab province is set to ban all social media platforms — YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — for six days from July 13 to 18, citing the need to control “hate material” during the Islamic month of Muharram.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s cabinet committee on law and order has recommended the ban during the 6th to 11th day of Muharram (July 13-18) in Punjab, a province with over 120 million people, to “control hate material, misinformation to avoid sectarian violence,” according to a notification issued late Thursday night.
The Punjab government has also requested her uncle Shehbaz Sharif’s government at the Centre to notify the suspension of all social media platforms for six days (July 13-18).
The provincial government decided to extend beyond the usual measures of internet suspension and mobile jamming over Ashura after receiving reports that ‘external forces’, including elements from across the border, were involved in sharing hate content and memes, as reported by Dawn News.
Initially, the Punjab government had considered shutting down social media apps on Muharram 9 and 10.
Muharram, the period of recalling and mourning the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain by the Shia Muslim community, marks the first month of the Islamic Calendar. The first ten days of the festival hold significant importance, with processions taken out on the tenth day by Shia Muslims.
Cabinet Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani acknowledged that the cabinet committee had suggested closing social media apps to avoid the dissemination of hate content.
Kirmani stated, “Dissemination of hate content creates bad blood and spoils the overall environment, particularly during Muharram,” and added that shutting down social media apps was recommended before, during, and a day after Muharram.
Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir has already declared social media a “vicious media” and emphasized the need to combat what he termed “digital terrorism.”
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, who also holds the foreign minister portfolio, recently called for a complete ban on social media.
The Shehbaz Sharif government had shut down X last February following allegations of changing general election results by the Election Commission of Pakistan, apparently on the order of the military establishment to prevent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s jailed founder Imran Khan from coming to power.
Both the military and the government have faced backlash on social media since the ousting of former prime minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. The government has arrested dozens of social media activists from Khan’s party since then.
