Interior Minister Rehman Malik said his son told him that if he couldn't get on Facebook, where he has his own page which hosts pictures of dignitaries and has 691 fans, he should Tweet.

"Only a few days back I came in (as a Twitter user). I like it," Malik told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. "There are a lot of questions, are you real, are you fake?" Malik already has more than 270 followers, according to his page, far less than the "countless" ones he said he had after only a few days.

Many people writing to him question if indeed the account is real (it is) or complain that he should be governing instead of tweeting. Malik's tweets give no hint the digital hecklers bother him. He calls for unity in the face of violence in Karachi and comments on how nice it is to meet so many women parliamentarians from around Asia. He also freely engages with his followers, an unusual practice in Pakistan's stratified political culture.

"Thank you for your appreciation," Malik wrote to one well-wisher. "I will hunt the terrorists to their demise." "I do not devise economic or monetary policy," he replied to another, questioning an increase in fees and taxes.

While he refuses to criticize the decision to ban Facebook and other websites, he said he hoped that a solution could be worked out soon that pleased most people.

"I think we should be open-minded," he said.