'Halal' Facebook gets over 3 lakh users

Islamabad, Jun 14: Millatfacebook.com, the 'halal' Facebook, which was born out of the controversy over caricatures of Prophet Mohammad on Facebook leading to the Pakistani government banning it, has received mixed reaction.

Millatfacebook, also referred to as MFB, was the brain child of six Pakistanis. 'Millat', in Urdu, means nation.

"Basically the objective is to provide a platform for all people, not only Muslims, but nice and decent people of all faiths, to come together and interact in a way that is socially responsible by providing them all the freedom of expression (while) respecting each other's sensitivities and faiths...," Omer Zaheer Meer, one of the founders, told a local newspaper.

"Dear brother/sister, congratulations and salam to over 330,000 Muslims already united as one Millat/Ummah at MFB...Now we are doing an upgrade to ensure high speed for all our Muslim community..." a note from the creators of MFB read.

MFB is already enjoying the strength of 333,000 users. People who wish to join the new Pakistani social networking site are expected to "respect humanity," "respect beliefs of all people" and "not disrespect anyone".

"Millatfacebook is Pakistan's very own, first social networking site. A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome," MFB welcome note says.

Many have dismissed MFB as a clone of Facebook. The site provides features similar to those of Facebook - there is a 'wall' for friends to comment on, besides e-mail, photo, video, chat and discussion board services.

There are plenty of grouses pouring in as well.

"The Halal Facebook for Pakistan? Soon there will be gender segregation there!" remarked an avid Facebook user in an online discussion on MFB. "We don't need another social network," a Facebook user told a news agency.

OneIndia News