ISLAMABAD: Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman Dr Raghib Naeemi on Wednesday claimed that the CII or he himself had not issued any formal decree or decision about the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), adding that the transcripts of his speech had a ‘typo error’ that led to confusion and controversy.

Talking to reporters after a meeting of the CII, Dr Naeemi pointed out that all the sermons he delivered before Friday prayers in Lahore were written down and the same happened last Friday regarding the Sharia stance on VPNs.

It may be recalled that the CII had, in a proclamation last week, said using VPNs to access ‘immoral or illegal content is against Sharia.

“I had stated in the sermon that VPNs were not un-Islamic but the typo error in the transcripts showed that VPNs were un-Islamic that created the confusion among the masses,” the CII chief explained.

When Dr Naeemi was asked if his statement, issued last Friday, was written at the behest of some other authority, he said all his sermons were always written down by the staff of the Council.

He declined to answer why a correction was not made in the written statement, but added that he had personally clarified his stance on several news TV channels the following day.

CII member Allama Tahir Ashrafi rescued the chairman from journalists’ probing queries and explained that the Council had expressed concerns on several occasions in the past about four issues regarding social media.

“These four issues are; blasphemy, anti-state narrative, immoral and adult content, and character assassination of any individual, be it political or non-political,” Mr Ashrafi said, adding that all these activities are easily conducted by using VPNs.

He said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has now taken a tough stance to address these issues, adding that the Council welcomes the move as these measures aligned with Islamic principles.

CII decision

The Council’s decision taken at the meeting earlier highlighted that social media platforms were effective tools in the modern world for public expression and sharing of information.

It noted that social media should not be used for spreading negative contents such as blasphemy, religious hatred, extremism, terrorism, obscenity, etc.

“If these regulations are being violated, then the use of social media will be un-Islamic,” the CII meeting noted. In reply to a question about the use of VPNs by state functionaries and ministries, Dr Naeemi recalled that the PTA had set Nov 30 as the deadline for all VPNs to get registered. He said those using unregistered VPNs after that deadline would be doing a wrong, illegal and un-Islamic act.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024