Prof Zafar Iqbal asks govt to say when users can access Facebook

The government should specifically say when it will lift the bar on Facebook, Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal has said.

He was speaking to bdnews24.com during the IPvision SUST 5th CSE Carnival 2015 at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) on Friday.

“We will accept it if Facebook is closed temporarily. But we will have serious objections if it (access blockade) is not temporary,” he said.

“So, the government will have to say clearly when it will open Facebook,” he added.

The writer said the government should give a reason for the closure of the social media.

“Many jobs are done through Facebook. Many run their business. Teachers use it to teach students,” he said.

The SUST teacher said he thought closing the site indefinitely would cause the nation great harm.

He said the government was supposed to close four apps.

“But I cannot even use Dropbox,” he said.

Before last Sunday’s execution of war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, the government, citing security reasons, closed the social networking site Facebook, its messenger app, Viber, WhatsApp and several other communication apps.

Mobile-phone and International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators have said data usage dropped in Bangladesh by 30 percent due to the closure.

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim in an op-ed piece on bdnews24.com defended the shutdown but did not say when the site and apps would be reopened.