LAHORE (AP) – Pakistan's government ordered Internet service providers to block Facebook on Wednesday amid anger over a page that encourages users to post images of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family).

The page on the site has generated criticism in Pakistan and elsewhere because Islam prohibits any images of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family). The government took action after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order Wednesday requiring officials to block Facebook until May 31.
In the southern city of Karachi, about 2,000 female students rallied demanding that Facebook be banned for tolerating the page. Several dozen male students held a rally nearby, with some holding signs urging Islamic holy war against those who blaspheme the Prophet.
In an attempt to respond to public anger over the Facebook controversy, the Pakistani government ordered Internet service providers in the country to block the page Tuesday, said Khurram Ali, a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority.
But the Islamic Lawyers' Forum asked the Lahore High Court on Wednesday to order the government to fully block Facebook because it allowed the page to be posted in the first place, said the deputy attorney general of Punjab province, Naveed Inayat Malik.
The court complied with the request and ordered the government to block the site until the end of May, Malik said.
Lawyers outside the courtroom hailed the ruling, chanting “Down with Facebook.”
Later in the day, the telecommunications authority ordered all Internet service providers to block Facebook, it said in a statement.
Pakistan's minister of religious affairs, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, said the ban was only a temporary solution and suggested the government organize a conference of Muslim countries to figure out ways to prevent the publication of images of the Prophet.
Photo: Pakistani women affiliated with a religious party hold placards which read “We are ready to die for Prophet Muhammad” during a rally against Facebook page “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” (AP photo)
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