madam president blasphemy laws in pakistan as various colleagues have pointed out are easily abused by extremists as an excuse to use violence against religious or non-religious minorities
of course freedom of religion is important but freedom from religion is also important
these blasphemy laws in a society in which freedom of expression is repressed in the name of religion pose another risk last wednesday a court in pakistan banned the social networking site facebook in the country
the pakistani telecom authority instructed all internet providers to block the website
the measure was taken to prevent people from learning about alleged insulting remarks on islam or the prophet mohammed
a cartoonist took the initiative to call on people to produce drawings of the prophet to resist pressures such as that brought upon the popular series which led to edits in the programme
facebook as well as on-line services and platforms are an important virtual passage to the rest of the world
it opens up sources of information and contact for pakistanis and allows them to engage in an exchange of ideas especially the young generation of pakistanis can be enlightened through the internet as school materials often contain discriminatory and one-sided language
criminalising free speech is not an effective way of allowing pakistani society to deal with diversity
cartoonists journalists and citizens should be able to speak their minds freely even if that means insulting some people
challenges to free speech are not exclusively found in pakistan in europe we face serious challenges to open debate as well
threats to journalists cartoonists and artists are becoming more common and they challenge our liberal democratic societies
self-censorship is becoming more common and politicians cartoonists and journalists now need protection against death threats
let us be inspired to stand for freedom of expression in the european union but also in pakistan and the world over
it is the best remedy against extremism
