Twitter unblocked across Pakistan
Sources have confirmed that Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has spoken to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who ordered concerned authorities to unblock the site.
Micro-blogging website Twitter had been temporarily banned across Pakistan on Sunday by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Express News correspondent Suhail Chaudhry had reported that the access to Twitter was blocked due to an ongoing “competition” of Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) caricatures.
This move was made, keeping in mind the “emotions of the masses” reported Chaudhry.
Earlier, PTA Chairman Dr Mohammad Yaseen said the regulator was asked by the Ministry of Information and Technology to block the website in the country.
“We just passed on the directives to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs),” he told The Express Tribune. “I can’t say for how long the website will remain blocked.”
Pakistan’s government had asked Twitter to stop a discussion on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which was considered derogatory, Yaseen said, adding that “Twitter refused our request.”
Government and the website officials were in negotiations.
The PTA had blocked access to Twitter directly from the upstream links without notifying the ISPs, according to Wahajuz Siraj, convener for Internet Services Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK).
Express News had reported that the Ministry of Information and Technology tried getting through to authorities on Twitter throughout the night and that about five faxes were sent to the micro-blogging website.
Eventually, in reply to PTA’s e-mail, Twitter authorities replied saying that they “cannot stop any individual doing anything of this nature on the website”.
Google Pakistan Country Consultant Badar Khushnood had confirmed the blockage on his Twitter account.
One ISP, on condition of anonymity had advised callers registering complaints to use Vtunnel and proxies as an alternate to access Twitter.
While the micro-blogging website was blocked, it was accessible by means of mobile phones and secure browsers such as Opera Mini.
COMMENTS (153)
@AFPAK: get a life man its not something about banning free speech! its about religious values being abused.i am sure there are lots of favored platforms which will definitely allow you to express your free speech like Grammy's award won by sharmin obaid...think whole world's fool as if we don't know who has been fighting n fighting these stupid fundamentalist wars from centuries and is currently in engage in multiple of them...
@Iqbal Qadir: Then why are you on the internet? LOLS!!
@OP: Agreed!
If it was totally upto these so called ministers, they would ban mobile phones, land lines and tv channels also, while they sip their "beverages". You cannot control what people say around the world - if someone says something offensive about our Prophet (SWA) - ignore it and move on. That person will answer to God not to you, me or this hypocritical drunk government. They banned it because of the rise of PTI not anything else. And Pakistan - stop being so absorbed in religion that minorities are attacked, women are humiliated and raped for minor offenses while a minor majority of you knows even one verse of the Quran. Separation of state and religion is a must and that was the vision Quaid had before everyone after him turned a potential golden opportunity in this great land into a disaster! Cheers.
@kaalchakra: agreed Pakistan should ban everything and we should all grow beards and live in caves even the women! We need not study Islam as the bearded ones will have wisdom dripping from their mouths - the more emotional the more wise.... lets recreate Pakistan and recreate Islam into the Mullahs version!
Just used Twitter for two hours. Also prayed and kept my belief in Allah. Still going to Hell.
A sad day, This was a great opportunity to ban Twitter and Facebook forever. The nation needs to stop wasting time on unproductive activities which can lead good Muslims astray. I hope soon another opportunity arises.
It had nothing to do with blasphemy. It was blocked to prevent Tweeters from making fun of #Zardari and his visit to US and possible humiliation
Ban internet. It is infidel technology.
@iqbal why is the world approval necessary for anything? isnt world view a subjective term that changes with age? the humans have not evolved into enlightenment. we are no smarter than our predecessors. their views and our views of the world are different. so who was right? as a Muslim you have to accept the view of Islam and if you have time you should study our world view. you will find it is ironically very liberating, peaceful and just than the subjective world view you seem to seek.
@imran con i suggested a peaceful remedy and also a islamically correct (as far as i can muster) analysis of why PTA did what it did. you want to investigate this let me know. then again people do get violent at this. it is a fact. and they are a lot of people. so it again shows western hypocrisy as they clearly state in their charter that anything inciting violence will not be regarded as freedom of speech. they do not outline the permissiveness of the violence as you are implying. the human rights' charter also states religions should not be insulted. so it is further proof of western hypocrisy. seeking out the world opinion over anything is shambolic since most people are victims of their whims and desires even if they are "educated" and have different levels of intelligence. so that part of your statement is incorrect as well. might do good to read upon islamic view of freedom of expression which is more accurate and balanced: http://www.caliphate.eu/2009/04/islams-view-towards-freedom-of-speech.html
@Ahmad Mirza: Every school kid knows, if u show irritation when someone is trying to tease u the whole class will get after you. These guys just want to have fun, by showing u are getting irritated you are making sure they have a party. This competition on twitter would have been a non event had you ignored it now you have made sure it will be a HUGE HIT.
@MrTenPercent:" But due to the cartoon issue, our country put a ban on scholarships to Sweden" That is hard to beat
They always mock us and succeed and we being utter fools always respond.
Pakistan government should ban everything that the mullahs get even the slight bit emotional about.... its better if electricity is cut to pakistanis also as it may be a trick of bad jinns and roads that are concreted over should also be banned as its bidah they should have sand thrown over them to make them compliant with the national lets be future mullahs of pakistan movement
wt a shameful act by Govt, they shouldnt have blocked the tweeter instead they should have raise the voice in parliament
Why only in Pakistan ? Making a joke of itself.
Ban the "banning of free speech" to bring Pakistan in to 21st century...
@True Muslim Paki: Warning about what? They might get some peace if they irritate you enough?
@Reaching out to the left: Nothing doesn't incite violence from Muslims. The world has to make an exception for you. You forced it.
...Muslims simply ignoring something and not taking offense? People are dreaming.
Being a Muslim, I don’t think it necessary to promote freedom of such expressions. In fact, it must be banned because it promotes hate among various religions.
Atleast we should try to understand the gravity of the situation. It is extremely painful to muslims commenting on this action with such an indifferent attitude that it looks like they have not been given religious education at all. They have not been told who the Prophet was and what considerations are required to keep our Emaan intact. Otherwise we are only muslims by name and having no Emaan at heart the muslim name will not be of any favour in the Hereafter.
This is a very alarming situation that people are continously humiliating the best of mankind and most of us are not objecting it. This is nothing but a time to save our Emaan. May Allah give us guidance to live and die as a muslim
I totally agree with the comments of Mr. Sani Raza Khanani.. Saudi Arabia was suppose to banned this site as well because the person is a big share holder of Twitter.. dont know what was the propaganda behind this all drama
...unblocked through Rehman Malik's initiative. - a true Jedi knight's act.
I don't see anything wrong in blocking such website. We don't have to be too much obsessed with free speech and other such notions. They are never there in any part of the world. You can try to dress up like OBL or draw his graffiti or post his pictures or cartoons on your website, they are sure going to be blocked. PTA should be more proactive to take action against websites, which are not sensitive to our concerns. Remember what happened with Ashton Kutcher advertisement? If don't please check up.
Why not it is blocked? It is extreme shamelessness from an islamic country like Pakistan.
Good going.... i thought that this step of govt would be well praised after such a long time...This should have been done earlier with facebook too,ultimate ban to these sites would have warn those who think this is some kind of a joke.. to play with emotions,values and culture of someone.Now i really see a " a real pak youth".surprising! all we are getting is "Now the govt should ban pen,pencil n papers??? Amazing! actually this is a state which shows how confuse we are.Live your life out of a hypocrisy
"Rehman Malik had spoken to the prime minister, who ordered for the site to be unblocked."
Geeeeayyyyy bhuttoooo!! now i will vote for PPP.
@Sani Raza Khanani: Prince Talal is a twenty percent owner of NewsCorp. He owns Fox News, the greatest opponents of Islam in the media. I really doubt he would do anything
@Khurram Shahzad: And further isolate your self from the world?
Not a good idea.
The Men sent by God to this world cannot be degraded by normal human beings. They are above hatred and showered love even on those who abused and condemned them. Those who are preturbed by some mischief mongerers are not true followers of Prophet Muhammad who gave a message of love to his followers for such ignorant people. I am not a Muslim but read his life story and what impressed me most that he gave message what he practised in his life, which made me write this comment.
Ban the internet. You can find all kinds of crazy stuff on it. I'm going to burn my books, prescription glasses and my car. I'm growing a beard and riding a camel. Wear my pants high, and get closer to my Arab roots.
Hindu's & Christians make fun of their own gods. They don't take religion seriously & not pious as we are. So, we can't even retaliate! So, I think a ban on twitter would at least send a warning to social media sites!
@Sam: Why didn’t saudi government or other Islamic countries block Twitter!!! because they are true muslims.
It is just Topi Drama, they want to continue NATO supply and they want to barred the social media pressure agains the NATO supply, from last few days #geolostnato , #blocknato and #JI4nation was the top trending at twitter. in same days MQM and Qadyani groups tried to low down these trends but they could not stopped the expression of real sentiment pakistani people.
The 1/3 that want to leave pakistan are right here on tribune :)
To follow an independent debate on this ban follow the comments on skynews. http://news.sky.com/portal/site/skynews/menuitem.ee7913f6661fec1eb2221910413071a0/?vgnextoid=96fd1c9cbe967310VgnVCM1000005d04170aRCRD&vgnextchannel=406d13a367a67110VgnVCM1000009811d20aRCRD#commentForm Just shows how the world thinks of us. It appears we are living in the stone age. Can the last person leaving Pakistan please switch of the lights.
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT WELL DONE we should have done this very earlier but plz ban twitter for good we always forget this with the passage of time and then start using it again.
brilliant...should be banned for ever
@Waqas: Please. Grow up. Realise it's not going to happen. The western world is not going to bend over backwards for people they already wrongly consider to be savages. If people have a problem with the blasphemy, they should leave Twitter. And ignore the things. Trust me, there are a lot worse things happening out there. And it's not like these things could ever hurt the Prophet in any way. He has 1.5 billion followers. I don't think a few idiots making caricatures will tarnish his reputation. What might tarnish his name(naoozubillah) is this kind of reaction towards everything. Take Sweden for example. Here's a country which provides free education and has benefited many Pakistanis seeking high quality education in the past. But due to the cartoon issue, our country put a ban on scholarships to Sweden. Goodbye sanity. Goodbye tolerance. Hello radicalism. We as a nation just love to chop our own legs with hatchets
Banning twitter won't stop the blasphemy.
Ironically the ruling party is the most liberal party in the country, yet time and time again they've passed conservative laws to appease the militant right-wing in this country.
Such as banning alcohol,extra-marital relations,social media, and even adult entertainment sites, this Government is even censoring our text messages.
Pakistan is turning into a police state.
No porn, no facebook, no twitter, no beer, no girls, no electricity, no nothing. No wonder people are resorting to violence.
This makes me so angry. When will these idiots learn? They can't stop things like this. They live in an age where anyone can write anything without repercussions. And they need to stop advocating their false piety and filling their own pockets. It's no coincidence that the word "moolah" is American slang for "money". I am sick and tired of these overly religious busybodies shoving their opinions down our throats.
OMG they need to grow up. This is no reason to block twitter. there are million such things goin on the internet what are they goin to kill the internet aswell. Sometimes they make so silly n stupid decisions.
A necessary and very appropriate move. Nobody has a right to offend the religious sensibility of any Muslim.
I think Govt. should ban televisions, cameras, loudspeakers, airlines, electricity, automobiles etc. Because surely the one who is committing blasphemy is also using all these services. Why don't we use these mediums to spread love and harmony and try to let others know so that nobody even commit blasphemy.
No matter how better we pose ourselves as liberals, our acts are not synced to what we say. I think we are at point of no return from imploding ourselves.
It should'nt be resumed now and people should stay away from twitter after this
@Jat:
how do u know?? any proof??
It seems that we are the only Muslim state in the world....
Good decision
Sign the petition to restore Twitter! http://chn.ge/twitterpk
ban facebook too it has more blasphemous pages than twitter
Facebook was very successful that they now blocked Twitter !!! Country is run by fools.
rediculuos act! showing thier limited mentality
@umer:
Biggest lie of the universe. Muslims slander everyone; Muslim or non-Muslim. Why else do you think so many sectarian murders occur in Pakistan?
There is a concerted effort from Indian news media like Times of India, HIndustan Times etc., to slander Islam and Prophet. The western media ( Jewish) have institutionalised hatred against Muslims on a day to day basis. Muslims on the other hand never slander against other religions.
I dont think anti-blasphemy mard-e-momins get how things work.
if your ideology says you cannot play football on sunday, that doesnt mean you try to ban playing football on sundays.
It means that YOU cannot play football on sundays. I can play all the football on sunday I damn well please.
If your ideology is opposed to drawing caricatures etc, that doesnt mean you ban it. It means YOU cannot draw caricatures.
Basically you DO NOT force your beliefs on others.
Guys
I do not understand even if GOP blocked Twitter why you people are so much bothered? what will happen if you will not send useless twitter for 2-3 days.. How many of you use it for good purpose and what good purpose it provides? Its not even social networking like Facebook that will cut you off from your contacts. GROW UP stop complaining for every thing. Problem is YOU people not the one who are making ! twitter do not are about millions of Muslim emotions and You crying over there service being blocked. I call it educated illiterate
Of the 1.6 billion muslims, Pakistanis are the most emotionally volatile, highly inflammable "ThakaDars" of Islam".
Well ! As a regular user I find this really irritating , perhaps the govt has not noticed that pro Islamic tweets are trending everyday and all that they are doing is publicising it ,. I for one had never even heard of this competition until today !
twitter was blocked because of the growing presence of anti govt and nato voices. no other reason.
Yet more proof the middle east is NOT ready for western tech. Its simple, don't like it don't it and DON'T WHINE ABOUT IT!
for those people who support this ban. Kindly put on your thinking caps. By banning the website you wont be able to stop the blasphemous material. It is better to educate people who are posting such content. This way the world will see we are not reactionary extremist fools that we are being rightfully portrayed so. Why hasnt Twitter been banned in progressive Muslim countries like Turkey, Malaysia, Jordan etc. Hell, its not even banned in KSA or Afghanistan. Why only Pakistan that takes such extreme steps. Gullible nation we are.
Ban everything, ban sanity also.
when Twitter can stop porn, then it can stop these actions by setting some rules.
User generated content is still controllable but upto some extent not everything can be stopped. Check youtube and you can upload any sort of videos but yes when enough people REPORT IT as offensive or spam YouTube shut it down.
@Ahmed:
With almost every group being killed in the name of religion in Pakistan and with horrendous barbaric blasphemy law in place it’s hard to defend the religion. You should be angry at the Mullahs for these wrongdoings and not at others.
Fully support the government for blocking twitter.
So Facebook is next ? or even The Internet. Lets not be an Ostrich and hide our self , PTA should have forced Twitter to delete those account which caused distress, not just Banned Twitter in Pakistan .. because we are not stopping anything. We are hiding only. I have done my part of complaining to PTA http://bit.ly/JulaRb . Guess others should do it aswell.
Good Step !
i think the powers that be testing the waters, both social acceptability and ability to do it. twitter and even msg boards for the first time allows this level of open connectivity and it make for nervous rulers who would rather keep doing what they want in relative silence.
Pakistanis shouldn't be on the infidel internet anyway.