The Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), Allama Raghib Naeemi, clarified his recent remarks on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), attributing the confusion to a typographical error. He stated that VPNs were not declared un-Islamic or “haram” and that the error arose from omitting the word “not” in a council statement.
The initial misinterpretation led to the Ministry of Interior directing the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block unregistered VPNs, resulting in several service disruptions. Addressing the issue, Naeemi emphasized that while social media misuse for blasphemy or extremism is impermissible, VPN usage itself was not condemned by the council.
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He urged for responsible social media use, discouraging actions that incite hate, terrorism, or sectarianism, and reiterated that the CII did not label VPNs as un-Islamic.
