How Pakistan’s ‘communication war’ is silencing critics and journalists – but failing to shut down banned organisations
Dozens of groups with terrorist links or accused of being purveyors of sectarian hate are flourishing on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Telegram
The shadows of three men brandishing assault rifles welcome the reader to the Facebook page of Lashkar-e-Islam, one of 65 organisations that are banned in Pakistan, either because of terrorist links or for being purveyors of sectarian hate.
Still more than 40 of these groups operate and flourish on social media sites, communicating on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Telegram, according to a senior official with Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) who is tasked with shutting down the sites. They use them to recruit, raise money and demand a rigid Islamic system. It is also where they incite the Sunni faithful against the country’s minority Shiites and extol jihad, or holy war, in India-ruled Kashmir and in Afghanistan.
“It’s like a party of the banned groups online. They are all on social media,” the FIA official said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is waging a cyber crackdown on activists and journalists who use social media to criticise the government, the military or intelligence agencies. The Interior Ministry even ordered the FIA – Pakistan’s equivalent of the American FBI – to move against “those ridiculing the Pakistan Army on social media”.
The FIA official said the agency had interrogated more than 70 activists for postings considered critical. All but two have been released, with a third still under investigation, he added.