The writer is Director News, Express News. He tweets @fahdhusain
fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
Once Upon a Time in a land not so far far away, ruled a lily-livered government which was scared of its own shadow. So when faced with the manufactured wrath of a horde, it huffed and it puffed, and it blew its own spine away.
Thus began the sorry saga of the ban on YouTube which stays in force till date. Presidents, prime ministers, chief justices and army chiefs have come and gone, but if anything has stayed put, it is the ban on YouTube. Never has an air of permanence been so nauseating. And why?
The reason is not hard to comprehend. In fact, it is probably the worst-kept secret in the country: rulers are petrified of the reaction from the reactionary brigade. So they hide behind the smokescreen of technical mumbo jumbo peddled by the Information Technology Ministry. The PPP government nervously lifted the ban, but reversed its decision within the hour as it got lacerated by the reactionary whiplash. So now we have the dubious honour of being the only country in the world where polio is on the rise and where YouTube is banned.
Sure, we have bigger problems staring us down than a blocked website. But that is not the point. Not at all. It’s the feet of clay that is the real problem. When legitimate governments, voted in through the will of the people, are held hostage by a vocal minority at the expense of the majority, then we have a serious — a very serious — problem.
In fact, the seriousness of the problem can be gauged by the guffawing sound you hear reverberating across the oceans. Yes that’s the sound of the world laughing at us and our idiocy disguised as policy. This idiocy germinates at the prime highest level and then percolates down to the geniuses in the IT Ministry and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). These Einsteins then shuffle papers from one desk to another, drafting meaningless summaries which amount to a whole lot of nothing. They do so knowing well that the decision to unlock the magic of YouTube is not a technical but a political one.
Which basically means that Mr Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has to decide himself if Pakistanis can have their YouTube back. But he won’t. Or he doesn’t want to. At least not right now. Why? Because he feels he does not need another controversy on his hands. Why? Because he will have a face-off with the reactionaries, which he wants to avoid. Which reactionaries? The ones who come out on the streets and burn stuff; the ones who peddle medieval thoughts in newspapers; the ones who spew venom on the floor of the House; the ones who bay on prime time TV and incite the hordes into violence.
So Mr Sharif — in this case — would rather follow minority public opinion rather than lead it. He would rather be safe, than bold. In the given circumstances, sound logic.
Except it’s not. The ban on YouTube and the refusal to lift it is symptomatic of a larger and more dangerous disease afflicting the rulers: appeasement. It is this appeasement, this shocking absence of self-belief which explains why Mr Sharif and his predecessors cannot answer a very simple question: if indeed the blasphemous material on YouTube is such a mortal threat to one’s faith, why is Pakistan the only Muslim country that still retains the ban?
From the state using proxies for war, the citizens now have to use proxies for YouTube. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Libya all banned the website at some point or the other but ultimately reopened it. Today, we stand alone in this Hall of Shame, as a nation held hostage to our own fears. Today, we cannot see the videos on YouTube, but we can see something else: the brazen cravenness of a leadership bent on kowtowing to a blackmailing minority. The rights of the majority be damned.
It is at times like these that one craves for a leadership that does not quiver and shiver like an autumn leaf when the big bad wolf huffs and puffs to blow the house away. Once Upon a time, there was YouTube, and MeScared…
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (16)
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@sharjeel:
I think also in Turkey.
THANK YOU for giving voice to what is true !
Sir, Its not just us alone. Africa has polio and if we talk about youtube its still banned in Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Turkmenistan.
Looking at the number of things Banned in Pakistan, the headline should read- You Not Me- Me Scared.
Fahd, the ban on Youtube is probably because of the independent political narrative that thrives there, not because of blasphemy. That's just a canard that they use.
Take a look at the hundreds of Pakistani political videos that betray the PMLN and rightwing obscurantist narrative. Thats the real reason for the ban.
Youtube ban must be in place as long as Google would not remove anti-pakistan videos....Google India is the hidden hand behind these videos in youtube and all Google products like android must be banned to make it clear to Google that Pakistanis are a Honorable people.
The policy of appeasement towards so-called right-wing and religious reactionaries must end..........the violence and confusion that ails our society is the result of our leaders lack of resolve to nip the evil in the bud-----that bud has now turned into a spectre and haunts us all........
excellent voice fahad.thanks .
Excellent article, very well written. But I believe there is more to this issue than mere cravenness. Social media is free, out of control, something very scary for our control freak incompetent rulers. On one hand the mainstream Pakistani media feels secure due to the ban on this alternate channel of information, on the other, rulers are happier as it is hard to buy social media through information ministry funds (our tax money) and selective television rights. There have been many occasions where mainstream media was forced to make news items, “news” due to their highlighting on social media. Incidents like Shahbaz Shareef’s son in law beating a bakery owner or those of Shahzeb Hasan’s murder, along with many other were initially not reported by the conventional media due to the sway of the ruler class. After all it is easier to bribe or coerce an entity with an office and physical presence than a free for all virtual network. My hunch, these guys are praying for some controversy to stir up on facebook, twitter and for them to ban these sites too. It is a marriage of convenience. But unfortunately, this is the future, either we can run with this ever changing Darwinian world or perish due to the incompetence and insecurity of our ruling class.
And, we still assert Pakistan is NOT a failed-State!
This Ban YouTube is only the tip of the iceberg or just the symptom and not the disease, so to say. Consider the general trend,
A. There is a Ban on Propagation of all religions other than Islam.
B. Ahmadis are Banned from calling themselves or even looking like Muslims.
C. Now their community news paper is also Banned.
D. Salman Rushdie is Banned.
E. Running of eateries during Ramazan, even for non-Muslims, is Banned.
F. Teaching of Comparative Religion is Banned.
G. Flying of kites, Yes, you got it, is Banned too.
As the Bard said- Kis Kis Ko Yaad Kijiye, Kis Kis Ko Royiye, Aram Badi Cheez Hai, Sab Ban Kar Ke Soyiye.
@author:::It is a matter of priority and other priorities you mention in your article are assumed to be so important that it is considered OK if 180 million are kept blindfolded so long as the self serving purpose is served.One doesn't need to go into details because you have already pointed out in your article in absolute details the real reasons which are behind the blockade of youtube.
Very well written. Nawaz Sharif has shown an appalling lack of leadership. Though it could have been worse if the apologist-in-chief i.e. Khan got elected.
We've never had such a leader and I don't see one materializing in the near future. We will either have leaders who believe in the ban or those who think if the ban can appease some extremist thugs, so be it. It is more than fear; it is a lack of inaction, inability to decide and take action which makes them continue. Moreover, blocking youtube under our so called leftist PPP was done because any party, secular, liberal, moderate, extremist, reccognizes the power of people's emotions and getting them charged up around the blasphemy was a rallying point and blocking it a means to get maximum mileage from this event. It's politics.
Excellent! but unfortunately who is listening
excellent, Sir