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Last month, I had the opportunity to talk on behalf of citizen media in Pakistan, at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Santiago, Chile.
Global Voices is an international community of bloggers who blog on social issues, current events and other topics from around the world. It was an overwhelming experience to be a part of a community of over two hundred and fifty citizen journalists from sixty countries. But more importantly, it was an honour to represent my country at a globally-recognised forum. The panel of speakers included also citizen journalists from Sri Lanka, Russia and China, and the topic of discussion was “The Rise of Citizen Media” in our respective countries.
When I received the invite to be one of the speakers at Global Voices, I decided to use the opportunity to highlight the positive aspects of my country and my people, some of whom have been doing great work through social media and by using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools.
Despite the twenty-eight hour flight and being severely jetlagged, as I had landed just a few hours before the summit, I couldn’t help but think about the damage internet censorship has caused in countries where it is practised. As I heard my fellow panelists from China and Russia talk about living under strict censorship, it was hard to imagine living in a country where internet was being monitored and authorities tracked every online activity – it was baffling. It certainly must be one hell of a challenge to survive in a country with such strict laws.
As part of the panel of speakers, I spoke about the civil society and how activists and bloggers had moved away from their virtual world and worked on ground in times like the IDP crisis and helping the earthquake victims. But mostly, I spoke about the role of citizen media in Pakistan during the crackdown on media when Pervez Musharraf was in power. Towards the end, I requested everyone to look beyond the Taliban and the war in the country and to look at Pakistanis as individuals and appreciate the positive and bright aspects of the country. Once I concluded my speech, the audience applauded and I felt as though all of them felt the dire need of changing perceptions and breaking boundaries. Although I spoke for just ten minutes, I felt that I had done little, if not a lot, in helping people think differently and change their perceptions of Pakistan as depicted in the media.
Citizen media in the country is a diverse community of individuals, connecting, sharing and campaigning and fighting for different causes. Unfortunately though the Lahore High Court has decided to silence these voices by passing orders that will allow the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to monitor online activities on search engines such as Yahoo, Google, MSN, Hotmail, YouTube, Amazon and BING, and block over 10,428 websites.
The reason behind the monitoring websites is to look for blasphemous and un-Islamic content. When a few of us advocated our rights to self-regulation and took a stance against internet censorship, only a handful had joined in or understood the underlying fears. We feared that the ban on Facebook would eventually become a blanket ban on internet in Pakistan. Such a ban gives authorities the ability to sabotage our freedom even if it is in the virtual world. Pakistan now stands in the same league as China and Russia, and I now face the same dilemma as my fellow-speakers from the summit.
Do we, as citizens of this country, have the right to even hold an opinion? Will we have the opportunity to engage with people without being scrutinised? Will we ever be able to truly respect the right to self-regulation as a nation? The crackdown on the internet appears to be more of a political ploy than a religious one. But like all other things, we love using the religion card to strengthen our stance and to silence opposition. For all those bent on moral-policing the internet in the name of religion, please pay some heed to the thousands of child porn websites that are still accessible in Pakistan, none of which have been mentioned in 10,428 sites to be banned. When will we learn to prioritise?
Sana Saleem is a Features Editor at BEE magazine and blogs at Global Voices, Pro-Pakistan and her personal blog Mystified Justice. She tweets at twitter.com/sanasaleem.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Sana Saleem is the co-founder of Bolo Bhi & Stories Beyond Borders.
She's on the board of advisory for Courage Foundation, Edward Snowden's legal defence fund.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (56) Closed
Jun 29, 2010 08:30am
Nice to read that you represented Pakistan. There may be some truth in religion being used for politics,however there is no harm in monitoring and targeted censorship so that no religion is abused. Rest assured Pakistani media has prospered to the point where its voice cannot be stifled. Our society has dual standards when it comes to obscenity. Vulgarity in Urdu and Hindi films is art, while in English films is unacceptable.
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Jun 29, 2010 09:33am
Firstly congratulation to author for expressing such well balanced thought and views, but I would like to make few points.
1) LHC hasn't taken a suo moto notice on the Blasphemy images etc, some Lawyers filed a petition and they listened it >>>>>hence what my point is if you think that adult websites should be blocked than some one of us should file a petition and here is my 2 cent, LHC wouldn't waste a single second in blocking that
2) India being a secular state also blocked the Blasphemous page on Facebook, no one cried there, hence we should not cry over spill milk of facebook banning, it is crystal clear that it was a ban in protest which people like me applauded though self censorship order would have done wonders as compared to just banning.
3) KSA has a very strict policy on internet content maintained by US company, and i as a mere internet audience in KSA applaud their efforts, hence what i am saying someone filed a petition in LHC and LHC has already asked PTA to block only blasphemous content then somehow governance has started in this issue which should be taken as blessing in disguise instead of cursing LHC and judges
Regards
Yasser
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Jun 29, 2010 09:37am
Salam Sana,
It was indeed a great effort on your part to be able to speak at such a different and international audience. You will be aware that we live in a country of hypocrites, by this I mean majority of people weather in power or not. We never (dare to) speak openly about the terrible massacre of innocent human beings (Ahmadis) by some fanatics. These fanatics have a lot of support from the state as well as common people like us. We have made religion a no go area and handed it over to only few have the power and authority to speak about it. People like Ghandi who dare to speak are threatened and we do not have the courage to openly resist it. If someone does it, s/he is called as 'Western', 'Liberal', 'Anti-Islam' or 'Anti-state' and 'culprit'.
Rather than criticising the 'bad' aspects of the West, we need to learn a lot from many good values of West such as democracy, human rights, their justice system, access to information, welfare system, equality and freedom to express ourselves. You mentioned only in the last line of your blog about child porn websites that are not in the list of the government to be banned. It is a huge issue and needs more space. I hope you will treat it in more detail in your next blog. You are right, it is not considered as an issue here in Pakistan, which is a shame. We only go for issues that have symbolic values and do not dare to go into the heart of real issues we face today.
Keep on doing this brave work. You are not alone!
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Jun 29, 2010 09:37am
I totally agree with the writer"s point of view in the text. the questions she asked at the end of the article should be seriously taken onto account as one may find it hard to answer the questions. we as a individual must look at ourselves and think are we doing the right or not. the government, political parties and religious parties should come forward to solve these issues and try to light the candle instead of cursing darkness.
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Jun 29, 2010 11:06am
A very nice article by Sana, ban on facebook and other sites would not harm those who are against Islam. We are also writing so much against other religions. Saudi Arabia does not have Islamic system. There is monarchy no one can dare to speak against the royal family. Pakistan was created for Muslims to practice their religion freely not to take others write to live freely. In Islam every one can live freely. But good things of our religion have been adopted by the west. If we set a good example no one will dare to ridicule us. So give others space.
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Jun 29, 2010 11:26am
Sana , I love to read your articles ,
truely agree with the fact that one should represent the positive image of Pakistan and we have to adopt the optimistic aproach !
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Jun 29, 2010 01:01pm
Hey sana,
a truly remarkable article. can't we all liberals joined hands and file a petition in lahore high court against this monitoring order on websites. i mean someone somewhere might make these people see the foolish orders they are passing.
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Jun 29, 2010 01:16pm
Please stop criticizing everything and not everything is political. Pakistani youth can definitely survive and flourish without these 10428 websites. Blocking adult websites is another great idea.
In a household a parent has to do what they have to do even though it sounds bitter to the child and rest of the world but its always in favor of the child. If someone else is allowing a bad thing to happen in their country that does not mean we have to allow that in our country. I agree with Yasser its blessing in disguise.
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Jun 29, 2010 02:24pm
I commend Sana Saleem for the brave effort.
Murali, USA
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Jun 29, 2010 02:35pm
I don't understand our habit of bringing religion in everything however lame it may be.
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Jun 29, 2010 02:42pm
Dear Sana
Congratulation on representing Pakistan in a far away place as Santiago, Chile. It is nice that you presented a positive, realistic picture of Pakistan there because many people in Chile by that time may have known Pakistan just because of the young Pakistani Saif ur Rehman Khan who was arrested in Santiago, Chile on the allegation that traces of explosives were found on his belongings. Seeing a young Pakistani lady wearing a scarf ( I assume you would be wearing scarf there too:)) talking about liberty, freedom must have been a pleasant surprise for them.
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Jun 29, 2010 03:58pm
Congratulations, Sana on representing your country on a global level. We have to go back and read the history of Pakistan to eradicate our problems. Hypocrisy on issues is our political dilemma. Leaders promise somethings in their speeches but do whatever benefits them when they are in power. Has someone thought about the country since 1953 situation would have been different. As 57 years are enough to roll down a country or to take it uphill. As far as pornography is concerned, who is doing this business, who is making money out of this.
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Jun 29, 2010 04:37pm
Good article, Sana. Thanks for your effort at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Santiago, Chile. Expressing independent opinion may insult few many, but it 8 out 10 times, it always helps us to get the best answer. I hope people of Pak (to some extent in India, thought I am glad they are not banning things here as much as China or Pak) understand that. There is a reason USA is doing so well in last 200 years and we are not. We should accept this fault of our society and move on. Look at the difference between North Korea and South Korea in last 50 years. What more example any other country need before banning public opinion.
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Jun 29, 2010 05:37pm
Great post. I agree that citizen media is part of what can help people from other nations look past stereotypes and the actions of governments to see individual citizens, their humanity and intelligence. I wish all governments had the courage to appreciate and support free expression, even when it is critical of them - or expresses a different view of the world. We cannot fully censor the internet anymore than we can ban people from thinking what they will or want.
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Jun 29, 2010 06:00pm
I consider it hypocritical to provide blogs which tend to criticize some of the govt practices which are used to defend Islam.
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Jun 29, 2010 06:06pm
Sana,
Always enjoy reading your blogs, gives me hope for Pakistan! I think people of all religions play the religious card to shut up the voice of reasoning. Sometimes I think reasoning and religion can never co-exist. Religion is what it is, take it or leave it. There can never be a reasoning follower but only a pagan.
What I find funny is that a person files a petition for banning all blasphemous content on the website but not a single petition to ban pornography. Maybe people will be more upset when LHC orders to block all pornography website in Pakistan.
Are we all children, because that is exactly how LHC is treating all of us. None of us have the minds of our own to decide what we should and should not see, listen or hear. We all have the ability to power down our computers if we find the web so offensive.
The world is a humongous place and people will say all sorts of things about you, your faith and your beliefs. The decision is yours either you in a civil manner prove them wrong or just cover up everyones eyes and ears and prove them right. This blasphemous material will not go away until you start using the internet and other public forum to educate the world about your Country and your good Faith! Remember the saying the "pen is mightier than the sword", well here the keyboard is your pen, go at it...
God Bless!
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Jun 29, 2010 06:49pm
There is nothing wrong to block any thing harmful to the people of a country. Freedom of speech has limit and monitoring of it is no different than watching you house to avoid burglary. Is there any thing wrong to watch for you safety or watch for careless drivers to avoid an accident. People propagating a limit less freedom have no purpose but to facilitate the propagation of unethical, abnormal or simply put it unlawful activities to reach with in the safe walls of law abiding or truthful society. Countries complaining about freedom of speech like USA an Europe have monitored internet and electronic media for there own ends and not just in their own countries but around the globe. For instance Hizab Allah TV has been band in USA and Europe.
Who ever is or whatever is complained about by the west, has actually taken place by the critics of monitoring policy. In the absence of draconian legislative censor ship and spying networks, such in the west, actions of Lahore high court can be defined nothing else but justified for the good of Pakistan and her citizen. I wish writer had raised the issue of freedom of speech and spying networks in the western countries in her address to the meeting in sandiago chili. Comparatively, Press and electronic media enjoy more freedom in Pakistan than in the west, and please keep it that way for the good of Pakistan.
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Jun 29, 2010 07:14pm
MC:
Blocking such content would entice youth to find other modes of entertainment. Yet, it is not guaranteed that they would quit watching such stuff. Whenever society has tried to collectively tone down human feelings, the result has been nothing less than disaster. We stop using religion as an execuse to persecute minorities and abondon freedom of expression. Yes religious sensitivities should be respected, but blocking those websites would not help. Another 10000 will spring up with such stuff. Will guys stop using internet, one of the fastest modes of communication for public and private sector.
The fact is we need to change our attitudes. Religion is a personal matter! If Pakistan has to progress, then we'll have to embrace our minorities and weak elements of the society. Secularism is the way to go. Religion has absolutely no place in matters of state.
Now please do not come up with the crap that Pakistan was formed in the name of religion. Quaid was as secular person as one could get. Unfortunately, most the history books available in local marked and schools present a very biased and distorted version of history. Quaid was secular but Nehru and congress left him no option but to use the religion card.
We still have time to bring these lunatics under control in Pakistan.
-Your Friend
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Jun 29, 2010 07:17pm
Agree with you 100%....
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Jun 29, 2010 07:37pm
Every one can file a petition, doesn't mean you have to entertain it. This case should have been thrown out, period. And the fact is that when facebook was banned so were alot of other websites which were critical of the government. It became a blanket ban, and would ultimately lead to what happened this time round. That's the problem here. Google, yahoo, bing are not websites, they are search engines, banning them is senseless. Why do they insist on pleasing the lunatic and regressive religious right in this country, especially at a time when the PPP, a liberal secular party has been elected by the people? If we truly are good Muslims perhaps we will avoid such websites on our own. As it is, the Islam exposed website has a new post welcoming new visitors they got after the ban was enforced. It is aptly titled "Welcome new Visitors!" Such measures only bring more attention to essentially trivial matters at a time when we have much more important and real problems to deal with.
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Jun 29, 2010 07:39pm
Banning neither serves Islam nor its image. Have you ever written even a single line in defense of our Prophet (PBUH) and sent it to NY Times, Wall Street Journal or to hundreds of bewildered non-Muslims who have zero idea about true Islam?
All you want is to ban, ban,ban. Absolutely nothing constructive is being written on behalf of our religion. Internet is a wonderful weapon for the spread of idea though it is also being misused. Go use it for spreading a good message rather than living in the age of jahiliya!
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Jun 29, 2010 08:13pm
Censorship means you can't read what other people write -- doesn't mean that what they wrote was wrong/right. They take that decision away from you. I would prefer to make that decision myself.
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Jun 29, 2010 08:54pm
good work, Sana!
There is a lot of difference in "choosing" not to visit such webpages, and in being "forced" to not view them. I think as citizens of a free country, we should have freedom of choice.
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Jun 30, 2010 08:06am
Nice to say that dawn is promoting our voice to the world. I want to high light the problem that government is not fully concentrating on children in Pakistan. They are going to spent 5140.9 million rupees, these rupees cant meet the demands of education, it is a sad fact that the literacy rate in Nepal is better than Pakistan, they are giving more attention,but our government is enjoying in arranging functions and ,meetings. they dont know how to run this country.
Thats why some of the government department are big defaulter of electricity, in which Aewan-e-Sadar is major contributor.
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Jun 29, 2010 10:08pm
"In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful"
Asalamo Alykum,
Barak Allah Sana for representing Muslims.
It is indeed news and a shock for me to know that child-porn is also in practice and published. All those who wish to have its sites banned perhaps may write to the following email addresses,
chairmanoffice@pta.gov.pk
law@pta.gov.pk
enforcement@pta.gov.pk
www.pta.gov.pk
Sana, can you please send link of about three child-porn sites for reference?
While I agree that the religion card is at times used to gain an ulterior motive, it is not the case always.
Secondly, we should try and strive for Islamic, God-Conscious rulers who would not misuse censorship or other rights...
Let it be noted that we do not have to look towards the West for values but our Islamic history. Recall the famous episode when Syedna Umar RA was about to legislate an upper-limit on dower-money which is a gift from the husband to his bride. It was a civilian woman who stood up and advocated against it by the words of the Holy Quran, and her advocacy was accepted and it was not legislated.
Wsalam.
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Jun 30, 2010 12:21am
In India only the specific facebook page with the contest was banned. There was no ban on facebook as a whole. That is different from Pakistan. In fact Pakistan also banned You tube, Wikipedia as well which India did not. SO the comparison is invalid.
Internet is like a library. If a book title offends you, you should simply not take that book for reading. If you decide to burn the library because one book in that offends you, where does it end? It is a slippery slope. Tomorrow government may use that as an excluse to ban access to many other websites which may simply be criticising the government and ban it under the guise that it offends the public sensibility.
Sana is right. Censorship is appropriate to be practiced by parents for their children. It is not appropriate for government to practice on citizen because that is the way all governments strangle dissenting voices.
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Jun 30, 2010 01:25am
What? No one blocked anything here in India.. Facebook was NOT blocked. Even the web page. And, the most important thing, 150+ million Muslims IGNORED the FB page and didn't raise hell.
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Jun 30, 2010 02:48am
Enough is enough the Western Media has already started a tirade against Islam and its core values. They are not only leaving any opportunity to criticize Islam and Muslims at every steps but they are creating and manufacturing certain things to malign and defame Islam like making a fake video by flogging one adolescent girl by some turban wearing bearded man which was proved to be fake by an inquiry conducted on the basis of Supreme Court order and it was held that it was made by taking money. There was an article in this very paper on this issue and people were expressing their opinions holding Islam responsible for this cruel behavior. We don't know when Muslims around the world are going to wake up to realize this conspiracy. Muslims are divided into different camps like Shias, Sunnis, Deobandis, Brailvis and they can not be united even to defend Islam.
Every day there is a new conspiracy to incite Muslims around the world like "CARTOON CONSPIRACY",
FACE BOOK CONSPIRACY" "A NEW QURAN CONSPIRACY" the word "ALLAH WRITTEN ON SHOES" in Arabic script. Muslims should be united at least to defend Islam.
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Jun 30, 2010 07:28am
Well thats useless. unfortunately our judiciary is increasingly getting biased not only politically but also on social issues. It is getting in a self righteous attitude where it shuns every good logic at tussle with the judge's personal ideas. So I don't think that a court supporting ban on Facebook may decide other way.
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Jun 30, 2010 05:25am
Well in that case, Pakistanis should isolate themselves from the world. Stay within your country and don't allow visitors and don't travel to other countries. You'll remain PURE. A Win-Win situation.
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Jun 30, 2010 07:21am
I totally agree with Sana Saleem. banning sites even in the name of blasphemy is not appropriate. Let the people of Pakistan grow intellectually, they must know what the world is saying, thinking and acting against Islam. They must have a knowledge of different perspectives and attitudes towards our religion and in larger picture towards every issue. because only then our people will be able to think and act above what is fed to us by our establishment, by our government and by mullahs.
The problem with us is our limited vision about things and in particular about our religion and other religions. The situation is worsened by the intolerance and self righteous attitude being injected in us by the people who want to mold our attitude according to their wishes (security establishment in particular). All this results in a nation who does not want to know, understand and tolerate anything against their thinking. Internet censorship can not in any way reduce desecration or hatred against Islam. it will only deprive our people of looking around them, understanding the divergent or hateful views, find appropriate remedy to them, self correction and most importantly come out of the mental shackles put on us by the people who want to control our minds and independent thinking.
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Jun 30, 2010 07:51am
Saudi Arabia is the most Islamic country in the world. They even declare Quran as their constitution. What do u mean KSA does not have Islamic system??
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Jun 30, 2010 07:53am
Blocking search engines like Google , MSN , yahoo etc is certainly going overboard . authorities must take help of specialists to weed out the SPECIFIC SITES only .
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Jun 30, 2010 07:53am
No Ayesha,no facebook page was banned in India. I was able to open that page on facebook
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Jun 30, 2010 08:39am
Citizens of any country hold the key to social stability. In case of Pakistan, this is the high time that the people should come out and help play their part in curbing terrorism. A very interesting debate in this regard was held in Karachi on last Friday by an advocacy group. Details can be read here: http://tribune.com.pk/story/23819/not-all-extremists-are-terrorists-says-ex-jihadist/
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Jun 30, 2010 11:03am
Many thx for your article Sana - lets have more :)
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Jun 30, 2010 11:49am
If you ban 10428 sites, then another 10428 sites with new names will spring up. Just like when USA bans Lashkar-e-Toiba, it starts collecting funds in the name of Jamaat-Ul-Dawa. You'll never be able to stop these blasphemy sites unless you ban the internet completely. That is your choice. The world is fed-up of the terrorism that emanates from Pakistan and Pakistan is fed-up of the blasphemy that emanates from the world.
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Jun 30, 2010 11:57am
Dear murassa,
you have to do more research about Saudi Arabia. Yes they definetly have a Islamic System, which is much more orthodox than Islamic Pakistan. All women must wear Scarf and Burqua, whether its expatriates or local, Women cannot drive etc. etc. Perhaps you dont know about this...
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Jun 30, 2010 12:31pm
Agreed, but do you think that banning of these websites is a solution? Don't you think that everyone has the freedom of choice to visit the pages containing blasphemous elements or not. I hadn't visited or seen the blasphemous elements yet, I had just heard about them, and I don't wish to see them.
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Jun 30, 2010 02:48pm
Women not being able to vote or drive is not exactly Islamic. Women are allowed full rights for everything and can even run their own business by themselves. Just btw. So.. they're not the most Islamic.
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Jun 30, 2010 06:06pm
Well Said Sir!
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Jun 30, 2010 07:32pm
well i have some reservations to your opinions here..
forget what Quaid had said about the establishment of a muslim nation, since you have completely ruled out the historical facts and his documented speeches; which infact truly favored a state that would promote islamic way of living.
my argument against "secularism is the way to go" is that Islam by default is an entire socio-political system which if addresses the private matters of a muslim's life, is equally dictative at a government level. whatever may be the the downplaying of ' personal discretion' in choosing what is viewed, the steps taken now against the blasphemeous contents need to be seen under the light of greater good. had it not been that the censorship was made, one can imagine the unrest and violence we have always experineced in the past. tradeoffs need to be made and thus thought innovative ideas need to be brought to counter the problem, i commend the actions taken at the administrative level.
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Jun 30, 2010 08:37pm
It is not just in Pakistan it is even in India, people fail to understand freedom, every authoritarian act first starts with an act which looks right, for example who are banning from watching these sites??? If you are a Muslim/non-Muslim you do not even watch these sites anyways so why ban them??? this only serves few people who now control what you should watch and what you donot watch.
If you ban something you do not like someone, would ban something you like.
giving someone power to control for what ever reason is like giving up your freedom.
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Jun 30, 2010 08:39pm
Great master piece of comment.
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Jun 30, 2010 08:47pm
freedom means no limits if you have limits on it then it is not freedom.
you do not infringe on others freedom with your freedom but religion is not someones to own religion is something which is as close to as it is close to evryone else so criticizing religion is not wrong.
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Jul 01, 2010 12:16am
aisal says:
June 29, 2010 at 19:35
I don
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Jul 01, 2010 04:25am
@Jimmy.I don't know how but I do agree with what he is apparently trying to say perfectly.If we Muslims have a problem with any blasphemous site,we can also refute that by various means.ANd yes,we also need to remember that we need to ban all sites which have been found by well-respected people to be harmful to the general well-being of human beings.
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Jul 01, 2010 04:28am
@ Anoop .......This doesn't mean we (Indian Muslims) don't respect our religious figures.There is a limit to all things.May Allah Bless all of us.
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Jul 01, 2010 04:33am
@ Akshay and Mathias. Murassa may have probably implied that it is not a perfect Islamic system or it is a pseudo-Islamic system.In Islam,one patricular country/sect/school of thought can't claim to hold monopoly over the entire religion.Issues like women not being allowed to drive have their own share of critics among even the liberal Mullahs.
By the way,most Saudis do,infact,support that their country should be Islamic in nature,Each one has his or her own choice.
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Jul 01, 2010 04:43am
@ cynic : "I find it hypocritical...".Each one thinks of their own ways of defending their beliefs,their national/social/political and other interests.And yet,they are right and not blameworthy.Now if we were to analyze,you,cynic,one would find that you too have come out in the open to defend your views(whatever they may be).You may argue and counter argue with those who don't think like you.Such is the law of nature.We just have to accept that and crticize the other person's policies only if they are outright outrageous or hypocritical.
In short,lets mind our own business first.Commenting about what others are doing can never be a priority,atleast for me.This is how Analytical Engine is.
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Jul 01, 2010 05:28am
Good article.
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Jul 01, 2010 06:35am
We do not have any need to get the government to ban a page. We show respect by not visiting the offending page or giving importance to the person who created such malicious content.
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Jul 01, 2010 07:53am
Salam to all here including Ms. Sana
True if there is a definite ploy of the Government to actually restrain its citizens from accessing genuine information and data from these sites, rather than preventing the pages which display blasphemous content, then definitely every saner citizen should criticize it. However, apparently there does not seem such things taking place, immediate provocation was the blasphemous content on some sites which led to a courts decision and was very well followed by the Government concerned. I and for that matter many people will not agree to the so called self regulation only because every one cannot be so pious and mutaqi like you Ms Sana and the brigade of supporters here on this blog. It is must the Government of an Islamic State should see that no blasphemous content is aired on any of the media outlet. I fail to understand that whether this world and for that matter the internet world is so small that you cannot eye but the blasphemous sites and so they should be kept open to test you mutaqi people. Moreover, it is good to listen that you have been in Chile but again I feel a bit regretful that you have to be apologetic to defend that somewhat bad image created of Pakistan.
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Jul 01, 2010 08:24am
This measure is an eye wash. The real agenda is the restriction of news media activities that are critical of the the political parties that are in power.
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Jul 01, 2010 03:44pm
Did any one walk and talk right after their birth or changed their dippers themselves. Showing ignorance to the facts does not help but makes matter worst. All those people opposing positive restrictions are nothing but deniers of fact, the Truth. Every one has to crawl before he or she can walk. No one can have a driver license unless they can drive, why ask for it, when a person have no clue how to drive the vehicle of life.
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Jul 02, 2010 05:40am
First of all nice to read you. I agree with you 101 per cent. The problem of our country is our ministers dont have any vision, they rather focus on their crooked wishes than the change we need today.
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