YouTube “is essential to get advanced knowledge and information” and the government is “pushing people towards darkness by putting a ban on this important facility”. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The protests that followed the posting on YouTube of a blasphemous video were violent and destructive — and carefully coordinated and orchestrated. The silent evasion of the ban by millions, far more numerically than ever participated in any demonstration, is entirely spontaneous, and in that sense may be taken as ‘the will of the people’. No matter that a resolution is passed and that millions of internet users have made their wishes known, a resolution is not binding on the government and there is no indication that the government is likely to respond to popular sentiment. The minister of state for health services (whose remit ironically doesn’t include website bans) made this clear to the House, saying that the government was interested to find a solution to the problem but that it was ‘sensitive’ — a statement that comes across as a delaying tactic and indicates that the government does not want to be responsible for unblocking the site. The ban has now been in place for 588 days and it must also be noted that YouTube is not blocked even in Saudi Arabia. The website has many advantages including being useful for educational purposes as well as media and music, which the ban is depriving people of. It is high time that the government responded to the will of the people and unblocked this website. There is simply no sense to the ban any more.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2014.
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I am from Indonesia but I am interested to know about Pakistan and its people. And Youtube is my great source to learn about Pakistan. My favorites videos are amateur videos that made by Pakistani people that show their activities in daily life. Yes, mostly of these videos uploaded before Pakistan block Youtube.
If Pakistan lift the blockade on Youtube, Pakistani people must be can upload more videos. Frankly, those videos make me want to go to Pakistan and acquainted with Pakistani people.
When a state is created based on religion (Islamic Republic) ultimately one singular view is bound to prevail. National Assembly did pass the resolution to lift the ban on You tube but did not implement the same When majority of the population ( aka voters) wears religion no political parties can dare to dis regard the sensitivity attached to the issue. Lifting the ban will be suicidal for the party and they understand it well so live with status quo and learn how to by pass the blockage.
it is not about religion anymore. any gov who lift the ban must have strong reason for this or otherwise they would face political ragging by opposition in future based on this decision.
Those who are uncomfortable with the Truth will strive to ban anything and everything.
That implies that somehow it made sense to ban in past and something has changed. Google hasn't changed it's policy so I assume the change must be the slow realization that Pakistan doesn't have the clout to bully Google nor the capability to control the internet.