Pak flashes red for indecent email, texting

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched a campaign against people involved in spreading “ill motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against the civilian leadership,” reports Kamal Siddiqi.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched a campaign against people involved in spreading “ill motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against the civilian leadership.”

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Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned that under Pakistan’s Cyber Crime Act violators can be punished with 14 years of imprisonment.

It seems, say many Pakistanis, that the jokes against President Asif Ali Zardari and his ministers which are widely circulated through emails and SMS messages, may finally be coming to an end.

Given that mobile phone penetration in Pakistan is one of the highest in the region, it has become popular option for conveying information.

In fact, during the lawyer movement against the then President Pervez Musharraf, the Internet and mobile phones were used extensively to convey messages.

But Pakistanis are not happy with the government decision.

An irate citizen, Ali Shah, from Rawalpindi argues that the SMS is a private communication and not a mode of mass communication.

He argued that the government should withdraw its campaign.