Staff Reporter :
A Supreme Court lawyer on Wednesday sent a legal notice to the government urging it to unblock Facebook and other social networking platforms immediately.
The legal notice was sent to Secretary of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ministry. Kumar Sebul Dey sent the notice to the ministry by fax.
In the notice, the lawyer urged the government to unblock the Facebook and other social networking platforms within 24 hours. Otherwise, he will file a writ petition with the High Court in this regard, the notice said.
Kumar Sebul Dey said that blocking Facebook and other networking platforms is unconstitutional, as the country’s Constitution ensures the rights of freedom of expression. He also said that the government’s move is also counterproductive, as it talks about Digital Bangladesh. The government on November 18 blocked the operation of four social networking platforms– ‘Facebook’, ‘Messenger’, ‘Viber’ and ‘WhatsApp’ for security reason. The blocking was activated after the Supreme Court rejected review pleas of executed war crimes convicted Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
The blocking of social media networks has failed to fulfil the purpose of the government, as millions of the social media users have been using the services through proxy servers. The social media users said that blocking of the social networking platforms is not a solution at all. The technology-based crimes should be tackled with technology.
Intelligence reports said that the miscreants have been using Facebook and other platforms to communicate among themselves.
Meanwhile, the government’s stance has not been changed till yesterday evening even after huge demand of unblocking the social sides.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had said that the blocking move was temporary. The government will unblock the social sides as soon as early, he had said.
State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim had threatened surveillance on the social media users, who have been using the sides in alternative way.
