Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman Allama Dr Raghib Naeemi on Wednesday downplayed his last week’s proclamation of virtual private networks (VPNs) being un-Islamic as the result of a “typo” error.

In an unprecedented pro­clamation on Friday, Naeemi said using VPNs to access “imm­oral or illegal content” was against Sharia. The council advised parliament on aligning legislation with Islamic teachings.

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A CII member had told Dawn that the statement was Naeemi’s “personal views” and not the council’s decision. The remarks generated heated criticism as politicians, digital rights activists and religious scholars alike questioned the decree calling the use of VPNs un-Islamic.

The under-fire Naeemi clarified on Monday that the misuse of VPNs, and not the technology itself, was “un-Islamic”.

The CII chief was again questioned about his proclamation in a press conference today after a council meeting that it was being thought that the decree was allegedly issued in haste due to pressure from the establishment to which he said: “My Friday sermon is issued on the council letterhead. It is a typo mistake.”

He reiterated that it was a “typo mistake” in the Friday proclamation that caused the commotion and it was “basically my personal opinion which is based on the council’s past decisions”.

Elaborating on what the error was, he said: “We think there is a typo mistake in which the word of ‘not’ was left out because of which this issue was further exacerbated. However, I want to state that no one declared VPNs forbidden or impermissible as per Sharia.”

Reading out a press release issued after the council’s meeting, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, he said regarding VPNs being against Sharia or not: “It is a common observation that VPN apps are used to achieve various purposes while using the internet. No VPN, software or any app is illegal or un-Islamic in itself, but rather their correct and incorrect use is governed by Islamic rulings.

“If there is any content that is insulting, blasphemous, disruptive, offensive, or against national security, then undoubtedly such use will be considered unlawful in terms of Sharia and the government of the day will have the authority to take steps to prevent such unlawful use.”

He further said that if the use of VPNs was intended to achieve a legitimate purpose, such as using an app for communication or using it for educational and commercial purposes, it would be correct and permissible and the government’s laws should be followed in this regard as it had began registering VPNs.

“Therefore, the use of registered VPNs should be preferred, and the use of unregistered VPNs should be avoided as much as possible,” he said.

Naeemi said it was impossible to deny the importance of social media and other modern means of technology, and their positive use had become an important need of the hour, therefore, there was a need to take administrative measures to prevent the misuse of these modern means.

“The council believes that simply banning modern means is not the solution to the problems, but at the same time, it is also necessary to take steps to enable the positive use of these means or to present a suitable alternative to them,” he read.