By Ketaki Gokhale and Farhan Sharif
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan, home to the world’s second- largest Muslim population, blocked Google Inc.’s YouTube service and more than 450 web links as the government widened a crackdown on Internet material deemed as blasphemous.
The sites and links were blocked because of the increasing level of sacrilegious and derogatory material, the Islamabad- based Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said in a statement today. The regulator, which shut access to Facebook Inc.’s website yesterday, may block other links with blasphemous content, said Khurram Mehran, a spokesman at the regulator.
Pakistan began its censorship campaign after a Facebook user set up a page inviting others to draw caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, an act considered blasphemous by Muslims.
While protesters today gathered in Karachi holding banners and shouting slogans against Facebook, and people circulated text messages asking users of the site in Pakistan to support the ban, other users of the social networking tool accused officials of overreacting.
“The government’s reaction is just like a child sticking fingers in his ears without addressing the problem,” said Omar Kapadia, a 28-year-old researcher at an educational organization in Karachi who uses Facebook and YouTube regularly. “Though I don’t agree with the caricature competition, the best way would have been to set up one highlighting Prophet Muhammad’s achievements,” Kapadia said.
BlackBerry Ban
Google is looking into the blocking and working to ensure its YouTube service is restored, the Mountain View, California- based company said in an email. Facebook’s press office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
“The attitude of administrators at Facebook and YouTube was in contravention to the WSIS Resolutions and their own policies advertised on the web for general public,” Mehran said in the statement, referring to the World Summit on the Information Society endorsed by the United Nations. “PTA would welcome the concerned authorities of Facebook and YouTube to contact the PTA for resolving the issue.”
The regulator has also blocked Internet browsers on Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry phones, Mehran said today.
A Facebook user set up a page called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” inviting others to send in a “creative and funny depiction of Mohammed” on May 20, according to the website.
‘Hurt Sentiments’
“We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammed depictions, that we’re not afraid of them,” according to the Facebook description page. “They can’t take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us to silence.”
Pakistan needs an effective plan to prevent anti-Islam elements “hurting the sentiments of Muslims,” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan cited religious affairs minister Saeed Kazmi as saying in Islamabad. Kazmi called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to organize a meeting of Muslim countries and create a united policy for dealing with anti- Islamic moves, APP reported.
The telecommunications regulator blocked Facebook after the Lahore High Court imposed a ban and the Ministry of Information Technology instructed it, according to Mehran.
The court petition to bar Facebook was filed by a lawyer representing the Jamaat-e-Islaami, the party’s spokesman Sarfaraz Ahmed said in an interview today.
Religious Parties
“The religious political parties use issues like this to survive,” said Fateh Muhammed Burfat, president of the Karachi- based Pakistan Sociological Association.
The Jamaat-e-Islaami, Pakistan’s biggest religious party, received less than 5 percent of the vote in all Pakistani elections over the last three decades, according to the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
“When technology is involved in something objectionable, we have to stop it,” said Chaudhry Zulfiqar, who filed the petition in court asking for the website to be blocked.
Today’s shutdown is within the Constitution of Pakistan and is an extension of orders from the High Court of Pakistan and the government’s directions, Mehran said. The regulator has set up a phone number for callers to notify the regulator of websites with objectionable material, according to the statement.
Cartoons depicting Muhammad in a Danish newspaper in 2005 provoked protests by Muslim communities around the world including Pakistan. The cartoons included one of the prophet with a bomb in his turban and accompanied an article on freedom of speech and self-censorship in the media.
Pakistan’s Internet traffic has fallen 25 percent after the two websites were blocked, CNBC Pakistan reported, without citing anyone.
To contact the reporters on this story: Farhan Sharif in Karachi, Pakistan atFsharif2@bloomberg.net; Ketaki Gokhale in Mumbaikgokhale@bloomberg.net.
Ref:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZOPv3wxk0es
AP
May 19: Pakistani students gather to demonstrate against a Facebook page amid anger over a page on the social networking site which encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, in Lahore, Pakistan.
The original "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" Facebook page -- with more than 80,000 followers -- vanished briefly from the website Thursday, causing some users to accuse the social networking giant of censorship before the controversial page reappeared on the site.
Facebook officials said a "small technical issue" prevented users from accessing the page for a "very short period" of time.
"Once alerted to the problem, we resolved it as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "We want Facebook to be a place where people can openly discuss issues and express their views, while respecting the rights and feelings of others."
The creator of a sister page dedicated to the campaign, meanwhile, said she has received roughly 1,500 images of the Prophet Muhammad via e-mail or through her page, which had nearly 9,000 followers as of early Thursday, the unofficial day for the "Draw Muhammad" protest.
Mimi Sulpovar said she's received numerous death threats since she started the page on April 22 to protest what she calls the "manifestation of gradual silencing and subjugation" of free speech rights in the name of political correctness.
"There are death threats, but none of them are specific," she said. "Nobody knows where I live or how to find me."
Sulpovar said she will consider reporting the threats to local law enforcement authorities if they become more detailed.
"It's generalized, like 'We're going to find you and kill you' sort of thing," she said. "At this point, it's like throwing death threats to the moon."
Sulpovar said traffic to her page had increased so much that she was having trouble moderating the comments.
"I can't keep up anymore," she said. "The activity on the site now is crazy."
The brief disappearance of the original page Thursday morning led users to create a "back up" group page. While some users of the new page posted images of Muhammad as a caped superhero and atop a camel named "George Clooney," others took out their anger at Facebook, accusing it of censorship.
"It's pathetic that Facebook have taken the other page down!" one posting read. "We need to do something REALLY epic now to show them that censoring our freedom of speech is UNACCEPTABLE!"
Other users said they weren't surprised that it was gone, given the "messages of hate" found there.
"I am so very disappointed in Facebook, but I am not surprised given the messages of hate that appeared on both sides on this wall," one posting read. "Perhaps if we try to keep it clean this time, the page can survive?"
The online campaign that began as a cartoonist's call to action against censorship -- an open invitation to submit caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad -- also led to a court order in Pakistan to temporarily block parts of the website, and a call for a boycott of Facebook to protest what Muslims believe is blasphemy.
A company spokeswoman told FoxNews.com on Wednesday that Facebook was "disappointed" by a Pakistani court's decision to block some of the pages.
"We are very disappointed with the Pakistani Courts' decision to block Facebook without warning, and suspect our users there feel the same way," the statement read. "We are analyzing the situation and the legal considerations, and will take appropriate action, which may include making this content inaccessible to users in Pakistan."
"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" began last month as the brainchild of a Seattle-based cartoonist named Molly Norris, who said she was appalled by Comedy Central's decision to censor an episode of "South Park" that depicted Muhammad in a bear costume.
As a way to protest the network's decision -- which came after an Islamic extremist website warned of retaliation against the show's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker -- Norris declared May 20 "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" -- and her efforts quickly went viral, spawning several Facebook pages with thousands of followers dedicated to the event.
They also prompted a "protest" movement by thousands of other Facebook users opposed to it. As of early Thursday, more than 82,000 Facebook users associated themselves to the original page dedicated to the event, and Sulpovar's page was "liked" by more than 9,000 users. More than 96,000 users, meanwhile, have joined a Facebook page opposing it.
"We tried our level best to have a healthy discussion on this page about this controversial topic with other non-muslims on this page, but some of them were bent upon abusing Islam and Our beloved Prophet (SAW)," one posting read on the AGAINST 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day' Facebook page. "So we are now banning anyone who is abusing our prophet on this page and in future anyone who will abuse on [this] page will be shown zero tolerance."
Other members of the group against the campaign asked users to boycott Facebook on Thursday and to post a graphic in their status update urging others to do the same.
One posting read, "IF THESE PAGES ARE NOT BANNED, WE WILL BOYCOTT FACEBOOK!!!"
Pakistanis protest in Karachi yesterday against Facebook. Access to YouTube has now also been blocked. Photograph: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images
Some of the internet's most popular websites were blocked in Pakistan today as officials sought to restrict access to provocative images depicting the prophet Muhammad that many Muslims consider blasphemous, amid fears of possible street violence.
The government blocked the video-sharing website YouTube, one day after it banned Facebook, while users reported restrictions on Flickr and Wikipedia, prompting complaints from internet users but approval from angered protesters.
The censorship revolves around a Facebook competition that has attracted hundreds of images depicting the prophet Muhammad, including depictions of a bearded figure as a pig and wearing a bikini. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, which controls internet access, said it had blocked YouTube because some users were using the video site to repost the offending Facebook images.
BlackBerry service was also blocked for about 10 hours as government censors and mobile providers scrambled to find a way of blocking the offending pages without cutting off the entire internet.
The crackdown started on Tuesday after an Islamic lawyers' association won a court injunction, first against the offending web page and later against the entire Facebook site. It will be reviewed on 31 May.
Najibullah Malik, the civil servant heading the committee that implemented the ban, said it might be reviewed at a meeting next week. "We decided that this kind of information was going to hurt people's feelings. We have directed the PTA to block all and any sites that display those caricatures," he told the Guardian.
At one level, the controversy pits free speech fundamentalists in the west against religious extremists in Pakistan. Pakistani protesters accuse the government of crude censorship that is ineffectual because users can circumvent the restrictions through proxy servers.
Emails with instructions on how to find proxy servers swirled around Pakistani cyberspace from early morning. Many vented their anger on Twitter, which experienced a surge in demand from Pakistanis starved of social networking opportunities. "Way to go assholes. Why don't you just cut us off from the internet and get it over and done with," read one tweet.
Pakistan has about 20 million internet users, 2.5 million of whom are members of Facebook.
Government officials say they are acting pre-emptively to prevent a repeat of the 2006 cartoon riots that caused destruction of property and caused five deaths. But it was unclear whether the measures would satisfy the court or prevent disturbances.
Even after Facebook was banned yesterday, Islamist groups took to the streets, mounting minor protests. More are feared following weekly prayers tomorrow.
Inspired by an idea from a Seattle cartoonist, at least two Facebook pages are titled "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day", with combined membership of over 80,000 people and hundreds of controversial images. A website devoted to the idea has also been censored.
Although the pages claim to be upholding the right to free speech, many users are using them to spread images that crudely lampoon Islam or cause gratuitous offence to its followers.
The controversy poses a dilemma for Pakistan's minority liberals, many of whom oppose government censorship yet are also critical of western countries that allow the dissemination of hateful and potentially destabilising material.
Hasan Zaidi, a journalist and film-maker, said he and other internet users planned to file a court petition against the ban. "It's absurd," he said. "They haven't thought this through. The logical conclusion is that we should shut our eyes, stick our fingers in our ears and ban the entire internet, even email."
But Zaidi added that western countries with blasphemy laws protecting Christianity or preventing Holocaust denial were guilty of hypocrisy, and said he felt western rightwing extremists were using the controversy to heighten bigoted views.
"This sort of campaign to promote the right of free speech is very narrow minded and shallow," he said. "I'm not discounting that those images are offensive to the vast majority of people. My issue is with the [government's] solution."
Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/20/pakistan-blocks-youtube-sacrilegious
It was 2006, and I can remember the wave of hatred and anger spread all over the world when Danish newspaper published something which they better should never tried to. In Pakistan there were so many violent protests against the issue, though people of my land destroyed our own assets just to show the anger. I can remember that a perfect date was chosen for the protest in Lahore.
The same is going to happen again. This all started with the South Park controversy. It created enough fire that could cover a large area and now the mother of all social media web sites have become the battle field. Anti Muslims have taken another step to show there hatred towards Islam.
There is an event on facebook named “everybody draw Muhammad Day”. And this event is a result of create hatred and enjoy the fight policy of some evil brain. Many Muslims are asking to boycott facebook on May 20th when this event is going to take place. As I have been confused about how to react to this I also planned to do the same until I read Blog Post of Disco Maulvi this morning, he says:
But why stick to just a one day boycott? Why not boycott until Facebook sits up and notices? Is our love for the Prophet so meager that it warrants staying off Facebook for just 24 hours? And where does this love for the Prophet disappear to when we blatantly ignore his teachings day in and day out? Do we boycott ourselves for not loving and respecting the Prophet by obeying his teachings? And does not the Quran tell us that all Prophets are equal and we should not distinguish between any single one? So why don’t we protest when South Park regularly depicts Jesus (AS) in its cartoons? Just some food for thought for us all as we stay off Facebook on 20th May.
In search of a proper course of action I put myself into a debate. My friends from the twitter world Rumaisa Mohani, Usman Rizwan, Ali B, Maho A Choaudhri, Abid Beli, Sabir Khalid, Saad AKA Kursed, Muhammad Ali Yaqoob, Ayeshah Alam, Dr. Awab, Akram Khan, and Rabab Khan joined in this debate. There were many points rised by these people; I am sharing a few of them here
- The point of protest comes when we r worth of it!
- Facebook Ko Takalluf Ha Humsay Agar!! Hum Bhi Be Bas Nahi — Be Sahara Nahi !!! http://bit.ly/9LiEtp
- we protest for one day and then what?back to same old routine of nothing ‘saving’ Islam !
- Tell me the advantage of spreading that msg to block that page??
- if really care about protesting over this sick event,then why not quit all the forums made by them?twitter,fb?
- we shdnt be avoiding it..speaking gives u the strength even if u rnt strong
- Make a group… call more than those 35,000 ppl, to condemn this
- speaking strength?how strong did we get in the past so many years by mere speaking?no change w/o practicalityFight on media with media only.
- what abt “WE Condemn Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” ?
- so in a nut shell change must have to emerge within
- Yes, the protest should be loud. Suggesting that it’d against both instigators.
- change must start from within, tolerance must start from within – restraint from withinchange must start from within, tolerance must start from within – restraint from within
- thay are also creating pages only.. so we can fight back.. whats the harm in it !!
- I disagree. They r constantly instigating such things and incite Muslims to violence
- Crused war already started after 9/11 dost but we dont want to awake as we busy in our daily life
- this time I suggest ignoring or quiet letters of protest expressed in a clear manner
- if they still don’t listen just ignore. And walk on in peace. Their words cannot
- damage us or our religion. Our violent actions do
- i am quitting it forever
- Quit this, quit that,u can quit everything,wont make any difference
- no DONT LEAVE FACEBOOK.Stay there.we have a right on the media too!
- World is not a good place to live either, so do we leave it.
- We can spread our Religion best things through Facebook
- ap ye page rukwa sektay hain ?
- i like the suggestions of this guy on the issue http://bit.ly/8ZypSu BRILLIANT – im all for it
So many points and so many suggestions but in the end what I can figure out is that to change one has to change himself, create an example out of yourself. This debate have solved a mystery to me and remove the confusing I was facing. Tolerance is the weapon which can be utilized against such situations. However one must have an attitude which do not let other misjudge the tolerance as cowardness.
This event is an example of discrimination towards Muslims and Islam, and the master minds must be having an eye on us that how we react to it, I know how much I love my religion and I do not need to show a certificate to any one but I believe that first I have to be the real Muslim and create an awareness what Islam really is and make these people who follows activities such as this draw event realize how much wrong they think about Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.
Here I am sharing a video which actually helped me in busting the mystery and understanding what actually my course of action should be.
I agree with the idea this young Muslim has put and i think it might be the best and must suitable thing to do at this time.
This whole event remind me the historical incident when people of Taif Stoned Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and Hazrat Jibraeel asked for His (SAW) permission to destroy the whole valley, even at that time Hazrat Muhammad S.A.W. Prayed to Allah to forgive them as they know nothing. This proves that how tolerance can create a world wide revolution in few years.
Practicing discrimination along with creating hatred and coating this whole activity with freedom of speech color is the idea of these people, raising voice against it a good step as we know how important it is to us when something like that happened but it is only the one side solution and not a long time solution. However, Creating awareness is the need of hour as the people in dark have now idea how good actually light is as they know nothing so they have no idea what they are doing.
We have to act in sensible manner right now and rather then leaving the battle field we should use the same ground to defend the pride and spread the light. I would like to share this peace written by one of my favorite blogger, Sana Saleem in her Blog post at Dawn.Com says:
Let’s act rationally once and for all, and help change the trend of the freedom-of-speech excuse being used to justify discriminatory campaigns. Most importantly, let’s sort out the issue of representation. The Muslim community at large – and not a fringe, extreme element – should retain the power to decide how to react to such situations. If our stance is that of peaceful condemnation, then we must rid ourselves of those who behave otherwise. The “Draw a Muhammad Day” campaign appears to be nothing more than a desperate attempt to incite and provoke Muslims – let’s not give them the satisfaction.
at the end i want to say one thing, what ever they do and what ever they try we have to have a strong faith in our self and our religion. for us each and every day should be “Everybody Follow Muhammad S.A.W. Day” and this 20th may is no different.
p.s On face book Rumaisa Mohani initiated an event called “WE Condemn Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” and link is here. And the link to the group mentioned in the video is here:
by now when i am writing it there is a news that the page on face book has been banned in Pakistan. here
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2009 ·WHAT IS ISLAM by TNB
