An absurd way to fight terrorism

Pakistan is now ranked according to the US-based monitoring body, Freedom House, as one of the 10 countries in the world which place maximum restrictions on internet freedom. Perhaps, this dismal rating would have fallen even further had it come out after the Sindh government announced on October 3 that it would be seeking a ban on Viber, Skype, WhatsApp, Tango and possibly all applications offering Voice over Internet Protocol or other easy communication tools. The Freedom House report coincided with the new measure, which will obviously inconvenience thousands in a country where YouTube has now been banned for over a year and all kinds of other internet sites blocked — as a part of official judgment as to what people should be allowed to watch and what should be denied to them. We then have ‘Big Brother’ running our lives for us.

The Sindh information minister, while making the announcement, said the communication applications concerned were being used by terrorists and posed a security risk. Virtual Private Networks, also offering quick, easy communication, had also been banned in 2011. But it is frightening to note that such restrictions seem to be the only means the government has to deal with a security threat that has assumed mammoth proportions. Clearly, bans will do nothing; rather than hurting criminals or curbing their activities, they deny law-abiding citizens a basic right to freedom. This is a grave matter. Its implications should not be taken lightly. We are turning into a repressive state, perhaps also a desperate one, using puny means to tackle a gigantic enemy. Closing down Viber or Skype will not stop it. Instead, it will just handicap people who use these tools for perfectly legitimate purposes. They have become especially valuable for business and other interactions since many from overseas cannot or choose not to visit Pakistan, given the militant threat. In light of all this, what will be an absurd ban must be reconsidered and some thought given to the misery ordinary people suffer as a direct result of poorly thought out government actions, which indeed defy democratic principles and as such, must never be allowed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2013.

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