GILGIT, April 29: The Gilgit-Baltistan government is worried about extensive use of social media by banned sectarian outfits in spreading hate messages and propaganda against each other, and is devising ways to curb the menace.

“The government is taking concrete measures to stop these messages from appearing on Twitter and Facebook and other such sites to curb sectarian hatred and violence,” said Law Minister Wazir Shakil, while talking to reporters on Sunday.

The law minister said the ‘hate and poisonous messages’ put on Twitter and Facebook were widely read and that the quarters concerned were working out a plan as to how these groups could be barred from using the social media.

Wazir Shakil said the government was hiring experts to coordinate with the cyber wing in the ministry of information and broadcasting in Islamabad to keep such elements away from using such sites.

The minister also disclosed that government employees were also involved in sectarian violence in the region but they were never taken to task. He admitted that serious efforts had never been made to address the issue of sectarianism. “I feel no qualms in admitting that we did nothing serious to overcome the sectarianism.”

Member GB Council Amjad Hussain advocate said a policy was being formulated taking all stakeholders onboard to put an end to sectarianism in the region.

Earlier, the law minister said Qazi Nisar Ahmed, chief of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat was under house arrest while a top Shia scholar could not be arrested as his whereabouts were still unknown.

PML-N CRITICISED: Cabinet members of Gilgit-Baltistan, while speaking a press conference in Chief Minister House on Sunday, lambasted the PML-N leadership for demanding the prime minister to step down in the wake of his conviction by the Supreme Court in the contempt case.

Law Minister Wazir Shakil, Minster of Works Bashir Ahmed, Minister of Health Haji Gulbar, Deputy Speaker Jamil Ahmed and others criticised the PML-N for using the judiciary for political mileage.

The law minister said it was strange that as soon as the short order was passed by the Supreme Court the PML-N began demanding disqualification of the PM. He said the people of GB were thankful to the federal government for ‘giving them the identification’.