Pakistan suspends social media platforms fearing surge in protests after Friday prayers

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The Pakistan government has suspended all social media platforms—Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Telegram—from 11am to 3pm, amid surging street protests, which may further spiral after Friday prayers. The Ministry of Interior asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Friday to temporarily block access to the social media.<br />
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Pakistani newspaper Dawn posted a copy of the notification issued by the Interior Ministry. It also quoted the PTA as saying: "In order to maintain public order and safety, access to certain social media applications has been restricted temporarily."<br />
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Though the notification issued by the ministry does not mention any reason for the suspension, it is believed that the government has done so in order to curb protests that have engulfed the country led by the banned fundamentalist organisation, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).<br />
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The Pakistani government is taking precautions as they fear people might come out on the streets after Friday prayers, which have acq1uired special significance on account of the holy month of Ramzan. The TMP followers are protesting against the arrest of their leader Saad Hussain Rizvi, who wants Pakistan to throw out the French envoy from the country and ban imports from France. The fundamentalists want action by Pakistan over the blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet that were published by French publications.</p>
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<img height="1" src="file:///C:/Users/media/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" width="1" />The Pakistan government has also put TLP on the list of terror organisations. On Thursday, Pakistan issued a notification against the TLP which says that the federal government believes the organisation is engaged in terrorism and has created anarchy in the country. The notification also says that TLP has created terror among the civilian population and has attacked security personnel.<br />
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Nearly four people including security personnel have been killed in the protests by TLP this week.</p>