Facebook is now blocking blasphemous content posted on its Pakistan website, a Pakistan government minister has revealed.

The company has already blocked 62 blasphemous webpages, and 45 in the past several days alone, the minister said.

This accounts for 85 per cent of all blasphemous content on Facebook's Pakistan site.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered Facebook to remove or block blasphemous content earlier this month, and said that anyone posting such material should be punished.

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Facebook is blocking blasphemous content posted on its Pakistan website, a Pakistan government minister said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (pictured) ordered Facebook to remove or block blasphemous content from its website earlier this month

FACEBOOK IN PAKISTAN Last week, Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan warned he would close social media sites that fail to prevent online blasphemy. The minister gave no details on which sites he was referring to. Facebook data indicate the social media app has about 25-30 million active users in Pakistan. These numbers are especially impressive as internet penetration remains poor in the South Asian nation. Instagram unit and rival Twitter are also popular. Advertisement

Blasphemy is a criminal offence in the strictly Islamic country and can carry the death penalty.

Facebook officials will meet this week to further discuss how to tackle blasphemous content on the website.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, quoting from what he said was a letter from Facebook's vice president received a day earlier, told reporters: 'I wanted to reiterate that Facebook takes the concerns raised by the Pakistani government very seriously. We have also committed our representative to meet with you and senior officials of your government.'

Khan described this message as a 'very big improvement' from Facebook as, he said, the social media giant generally had not responded to such complaints in the past.

He said Facebook through Pakistan's ambassador in the United States has told him that over the past few months it had blocked 62 blasphemous webpages, with 45 of these blacklisted in the past few days.

'We see it very positively that at the highest level Facebook has responded and takes this issue seriously.'

He said Pakistan's Washington ambassador had spoken to the FBI and Justice Department to underline Islambad's concerns and both agencies had been receptive.

The company has already blocked 62 blasphemous webpages, and 45 in the past several days alone, the government minister said. Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Pakistan and can carry the death penalty (stock image)

There was no immediate statement from Facebook, and the company has yet to respond to MailOnline's request for comment.

Last week, Khan warned he would close social media sites that fail to prevent online blasphemy, but gave no details.

Facebook data indicate the social media app has about 25-30 million active users in Pakistan even though Internet penetration remains poor in the South Asian nation.

Facebook's Instagram unit and rival Twitter are also popular.

The ruling PML-N party's tough talk against blasphemy will appeal to its conservative voter base ahead of elections likely to take place next year.

At least 65 people, including lawyers, defendants and judges, have been murdered by Islamist militants over blasphemy allegations in Pakistan since 1990, according to think-tank figures and local media.