Reaction on the streets

Pakistan has blocked two popular websites due to a controversial competition being held on Facebook on May 20. How has the ban on Facebook and YouTube affected you? Has the block on our accessibility to these sites highlighted the fact that how addicted and dependent we are on social networking websites and forums? How do you plan to pass your time instead now that browsing videos and random profiles is not an option?

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445 Responses to “Reaction on the streets”

  1. SKChadha says:

    Isn’t it a religious and cultural policing of a State on its own subjects? Isn’t the action suggest imposition of political will of the superiors in Pakistan on its subjects in the name of religion. Islam which is one of the largest religions can be further spread by its beautiful teachings and opening its tenets for debate. Please enlighten me how it affect the world by confining it in shells of Pakistan. Will it make the country or its subjects more religious in any way?

  2. Ubaid says:

    Apparently people posting here don’t understand the concept of choice and self-control. Ban youtube because some videos are wasting your time? What about all the educational and informative videos on youtube?

  3. Ubaid says:

    Why are people so easily offended? Why cant they just stop looking at the source in? If we start banning everything that offends anyone, we will go back to the dark ages, well we are half-way there already.

  4. Sohail says:

    i really loved it the way these sites has been banned. dose not matter whom country or group has done what so ever and i wish it should be banned for ever, i highly used facebook and youtube for alots of reasons but when it comes to our relgion, Quran, and our beloved prophets then no compromise on it.

  5. Sufyan Nabi says:

    Truly, this is a very good step on part of the government of Pakistan .. but the matter of Prophet’s honour should also be discussed in international forums. the foreign ministry of muslim countries must gather together, rather like OIC and produce an effective law against such acts . we could talk this with america or any other country where such competitions are held .moreover, blocking that page would have done good too instead of the whole of facebook… PTA must have given us the chance to report those groups and pictures beforehand . Plus , i am very critical of the attempt on wikipedia … its my favorite site and many students like me gain knowledge from it ! BUt this is true that without facebok and youtube my life is incomplete :)

  6. Sohail says:

    i am with mr. Syed.

  7. Sohail says:

    It was difficult to make a decision for an individual whether to use facebook or youtube or not, but this ban from the government has made it easier for all of us to decide. I am not affected by this ban as I am resident in Pakistan n I am encouraged not to use these sites. There is nothing more important for a Muslim than their religion and this literally sends a clear message to facebook and youtube administrators that all the rubbish about freedom of expression is acceptable until they don’t hurt someone’s personal beliefs.

  8. Sohail says:

    It’s great to boycott all such humiliating sites, very simple and keep it straight we don’t need these sites

    I consider banning these websites a “First Step of Pakistan” towards letting world realized The Respect of our Religion “Islam”. I appreciate it with all my heart being one of Face Book users. Every Muslim is spiritually bound to our Prophet Peace Be Upon Him (whether or not he/she is fanatic). What really strikes my mind is “What do they get by making caricatures of our beloved Prophet (P.B.U.H)?” Can anyone supporting this mockery answer my question? I appreciate the ban, and it hasn’t affected any of from US.

    The weakest part of our life being muslims we don’t have much knowledge about our own religion that is why when ever our reaction comes in this way they pass comment that these paki Muslims are conservative.

    Now come to the point, how will we pass the time, similarly as when there was no you tube or face book?

  9. Zain says:

    From what I have gathered from the views above, it shows how social networking sites like Facebook and Utube have destroyed out younger generation. I am not that old myself and am a Uni graduate from the US, so I will consider myself a part of “younger generation”, or the generation “X”.
    Facebook and Utube have done the most damage to youngsters in India and Pakistan more than anywhere else in the world. I don’t see any good players coming out of the middle class in Pakistan nor India and I blame facebook for that.

    Personally, people who have been hurt the most are the ones who were living a cyber life through facebook. I hardly use it since the last couple of months and trust me I am still alive and am in contact with all my friends from 3 countries. Anyone who cannot access me through facebook, can Text me, e-mail me or call me.

  10. ayeshak says:

    its baseless to block these sites. The Prophet is way above all this.

  11. Aadil shahzad says:

    it was a good decesion coz they banned the offensive page.

  12. Shri Do Tok says:

    Pakistani Muslims including media and political leadership deserve congratulation from the Muslims all around the world for taking a very firm stand and for demonstrating against the defamatory, unethical and provocative act of “FACE BOOK” and “YOU TUBE” causing insult to our Prophet. This time Pakistan proved to be the leader of the “MUSLIM WORLD” for wiping out the tears from the eyes of injured Muslims all around the world for the very heinous and disrespectful acts of the face book and you tube. The demonstration of anger of Pakistani Muslims compelled to withdraw the drawing of picture of our beloved Prophet and not only that they had to apologize for their wrongful acts. Thank you Pakistani Muslims.

  13. Ali Habib says:

    The ban is ridiculous. For people who don’t want to use Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia (or whatever they’ll ban next) because of the caricatures or for whatever other reason, don’t use it!. That is your right, and I respect it. By all means delete your accounts…. I disagree with you but I will applaud you for standing up for what you believe in a manner that does not affect others’ rights. But blocking an entire domain and foisting a ban on me is depriving me of my right to choose what I find offensive and what I don’t. The right to be offended is mine. The govt should not get to tell me what I should find offensive, what I should see, what I should not see on the Internet.

  14. SURYA says:

    Hey Guys, if don’t like some web page, why do you want to visit that page or website. There is no mandate that everybody should see that webpage is it? Govt involvement is wrong.

  15. syed yaqoob shah says:

    i think its a very good decision…Youtube is also responsible for disturbing privacy of some families..why did the owner of these websites allow all kinds of material to Upload..why they did not check it..

  16. Rizwan says:

    The day we stop getting bothered from these kinds of acts, they’ll stop drawing pictures and cartoons. The only reason they do it with so much passion is that it annoys us and we like to use our annoyance towards self destructive actions. I say let them do it. Think about it; we don’t achieve anything by banning facebook. Respect lies in the heart.

  17. Ali says:

    Would banning really make any difference? Does Lahore high court really think that they would have any sort of impact whether it is social, financial or moral? The response should have been not to give this so much attention. There are six billion people in the world, you can not control what each and everyone says, it is a futile exercise. As long as an institution is not stating that as their personal view, an individual view or act on anything can not be controlled and should not be given any credence.

  18. Huma says:

    We should ban facebook, internet and media from Pakistan and go back to the dark ages where ignorance was bliss. That way, we wont be distressed when the next cartoon issue comes along….which certainly it will as we have played into the hands of the crazies and popularized their cause. Clearly, we are not mature enough to handle the issue so lets proceed with the ban.

  19. Umer says:

    Absolutely right decision taken by PTA and LHC !

  20. Daniel says:

    I would expect that the average user has the choice whether to see the group in question or not, and would avoid it if it offends him. Youtube is a highly informational site and fb matters a great deal for people to keep in touch long distance, it is more than an entertainment site.

  21. Zain A Ansari says:

    on Rare occasions you can call yourself self a proud Pakistani!!!!!!

    and this is certainly one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. raki says:

    If the purpose of the ban is to ensure that no one can see the drawings of the prophet the only solution is to ban the internet. Banning a few sites achieves nothing, such drawings are spread all over the internet. Or, create an intranet platform on which all the content is monitored. Nearly all major corporations have such platforms.

  23. Sarmad says:

    Personally I have not been so much indulged in viewing random profiles but I have become cut-off from my friends from School and College and have become deprived of viewing and commenting on pictures of my friends and sharing what I feel…. coming to know about events that take place in our city and supporting the teams we love in different competitions……

  24. Syed says:

    Ok, that is much better to block those sites who have no control on the privacy and just online for sharing poor informations. Facebook is responsible for this issue happens and they should be permanent block not just in pakistan also should be blocked in all Muslim countries, even youtube contain those cartoonist contents as well orkut too as well twitter too, all those sites should be banned for ever. Long live Muslims

  25. Sarmad says:

    Their is no such benefit in simply banning these sites, I strongly believe that there should be long term planning in curbing these situations rather than taking such no-effect steps.. I have been hearing from people that FB will have to bear a lot of losses by loosing its 2 million users but according to experts like Jahan Aara, the head of Pakistan Software Association the effect is not that much significant because withdrawal of 2 Million from 40 Million users is not a big number. What the government should do is to lodge complaints against these pages with the sites(FB, Wikipedia etc.). Pakistan should also promote education level of Software development and IT in order to compete with the current world scenario.

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