No intention to ban Facebook in J&K, says Omar Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said his government has no intention to ban popular social networking site Facebook in the Valley in the wake of protests over alleged blasphemous comments on the site.

"Stop the rumour-mongering. Govt (sic) has no intention of banning Facebook. Only a request to block certain blasphemous pages has been made," Omar wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.com.

Protests were held at many places in Kashmir last Friday over certain pages on Facebook which purportedly carried blasphemous remarks.

Law Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar last week was quoted by the local media as saying that the government was mulling a ban on the site to check the spread of "blasphemous posts regarding Islam".