Ahead of the July 25 general election in Pakistan, Facebook has disabled numerous accounts and pages of the Milli Muslim League (MML), a political outfit launched by Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, a media report said on Sunday.
Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had said it was his priority to make sure that his social networking website supported positive discourse and prevented interference in the upcoming elections in Pakistan, India, Brazil, Mexico and other countries.
Recently, Facebook officials contacted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and offered help to identify and remove fake pages of political parties ahead of the election,
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Foreign terror group
The ECP has not recognised the MML as a political party. In April this year, the U.S. placed the MML on its list of foreign terror organisations for its links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. After the ECP denied recognition to the MML, Saeed announced that around 200 candidates of his party would contest under a little-known party, Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek.
MML spokesperson Tabish Qayyum told journalists that Facebook removed numerous accounts of the party’s candidates and workers without citing any reason. This was a violation of its own policy and amounted to sanction on the freedom of expression, he said.
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