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?
The views expressed by the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Why the government have banned the Wikipedia website on Google? It is the source of knowledge of the world.
My bro!!
Wikipedia also show the cartoon of hatred in the so called source of knowledge
There can’t be enough of this banning business! If there’s something you don’t like on the internet, pretending it’s not there is the BEST way to get rid of it.
i second that. By banning them they are giving more importance to it. We have alot of friends running their business on facebook … what do they do now?
Asalam-o-Alekum,
I do appreciate the ban, Musharaf said first pakistan then islam, but i say first Islam and then us whatever the situation is, because this whole universe is based on just One person and which is Mohammad S.A.W, yes people in pakistan and in other countries need/use facebook for there business but most of us including myself used the facebook for fun thats it, we spend our time and money on it for nothing. Couple of months back i delete my account from facebook because at time i thought this is not correct. and today i salute my decision. Just banning is not correct.
Just avoid these social network sites as they require your time and money for nothing.
Read Darood Sharif Whenever you got time. whenever you feel bad.
ALLAH HAFIZ
I’m not in favor nor against banning facebook and youtube BUT by imposing ban on these sites can assure that no such incident will happen in future again?. On the other hand, there are also several pages available on facebook and youtube which are spreading Islam and making people realize that Islam is the best religion.
Facebook is an addiction especially for youngsters and by imposing ban on it, actually encouraging them to visit other prohibited sites. Also why don’t government ask PTA to restrict all suspicious sites?.
Its good that they have blocked these sites it was and still is disgraceful and disrespectful for the entire Muslim community ,but just wondering how other things will be dealt with where people will start getting spam having such blasphemous images in their email accounts ,some so called “freedom of speech practioners” will put them in other social networking forums which again are being used by many Pakistanis and Muslims, then what? Will PTA block everything ? and where this will lead us? Isolated and known as country who could do the most by blocking the websites and entire network. About time for some construtive and result oriented actions by those sitting above.Mind it ,something new will be developed in a short span of time and people will start using that alternative and forget about the whole thing ,its not always about revenues and profits , racism is not acceptable in any form not even coating it as “freedom of speech” . So is it really conveying the message in the right manner and actually yielding results ? ” I think not”.
I am amazed how many people on this blog wants to make sure youtube and facebook remain blocked forever. Why don’t we just block the whole of internet from pakistan after all its a waste of time like FB and YouTube. The whole world is embracing web as a way to do business and conduct personal matters and here we want them to be shut. You will find far worse objectionable material on the whole internet deemed offensive to us muslims so lets shutdown the whole thing. A precedence has been set and this government will try to shutdown all news content which it deems objectionable to itself. We can not monitor everything on web and neither should we try to. We are behind the world in using technology to improve our lot and actions like this will make sure we remain behind. While we should do whatever in our capacity to raise the issue of caricatures but to shutdown whole site is no solution.
Dear 80’s Child,
As far as I know thousands of Muslims around the world reported this particular page as offensive. The FB management should’ve taken measures against that page coz, to my knowledge it’s Fb’s policy that even if I as a single person feel humiliated or hurt because of any page, FB will remove it. Then why this hypocrisy when it comes to the sentiments of more than a billion Muslims?
I agree to some extent that banning the whole website is not the solution. But when our rulers and dumb and deaf and they can’t raise voice on any issues specially issue like this one, what would one do except for knocking the court’s door and as they are not that technology savy, they found banning as the best solution for it. Why can’t we have a censorship policy?? Can’t we get that technology from anywhere??
Regards,
Ahmed Ali.
Well! We as Muslims ought to behave in such circumstances as Prophet(SAW) himself would have behaved and not as we desire. We well know that Prophet(SAW) tolerated a lot more than this. So there must not be so big a reaction as to damage our own property and life. Its not about making caricatures or so, its about respecting the feelings of more than a billion people in this world-the second biggest population on globe. I don’t know how the ban should be perceived but we ought to leave facebook en block for the reason that the people who claim to be torch bearers of humanity, democracy etc etc are themselves can’t care for other people’s feelings.
I dont agree with you. We can not tolerate it. If we tolerate this thing, next thing they do will be much bigger and more serious. Who are they, to take for their rights to draw our Prophet (SAWS) in the name of freedom of speech. Let them find some other “object” to practice on it. If we think we dont have freedom of speech we should fight ourselves for our rights, we dont need them to take care about us. And at the end, What Mohammed (SAWS) have to do with freedom of speech? Why they didnt take some Indian, Chinese, Thai monk or some other person??
The only thing we have done by banning the websites is making heroes out of people. Now everyother person who wants there 2 minutes of fame would do something like this.
Mehmed says “Why they didnt take some Indian, Chinese, Thai monk or some other person??” Son, you are most welcome to draw, paint, critic any of our pantheon of Hindu gods, no matter how virulent the caricature. Civilized societies should tolerate some amount of bigotry and ridicule without the threat to resort to violence.
I agree completely.
well..if standing up for our Prophet (PBUH) means we’r not civilized..then yea..we rnt..nd wont ever be! nd i agree with Ahsan that Hazart Muhammad (PBUH) tolerated a lot more than this..then y cant you ‘tolerate’ living without fb for a few days..???
Lets just all forget our needs…this isnt about us…it’s about our Prophet(PBUH)..and if facebook doesnt care about our feelings and our religion then they can go to hell,as far as im concerned!
Facebook should remove that page – and the world should know nothing like this should happen again in future – Cause Muslims can’t tolerate it – Being muslims we need to be UNITED!
for the first time this goverment has taken a step which i totally agree with
it should be made clear to such people that we r gonna act in the same way whenever they r gonna do such stuff
respecting religious views is 1 of the basics of humanity
we respect other religions so others should do so
the issue must be presented in the UN security council and islamic conference all countries especially muslim countries should take strict actions against such people so no 1 ever again dare to make such a statement
Banning them is the right decision. Plus I think facebook and youtube should be sued. It should be in their policy that all content that affects any population of this world should be immediate removed.
Yes, banning all these things, including internet, will be the right decision for the country
I am not a fanatic nor a Mullah and I can bet that nobody was as addicted to facebook as I am but I am happy that majority of us think that Facebook should be banned till the time this issue is solved. I believe being a Muslim this the least we can do. The kind of caricatures that are posted on FB fanpage clearly suggests that it is a deliberate attempt to provoke Muslims. I would love walk and talk like an enlightened moderate Pakistani but not at the cost my religion.
If I write two lines about Holocaust on Facebook I ll be thrown out but not in the case of Humiliating Islam.
If I write two lines about Bosnian ethnic cleansing I’ll be thrown out to
well i am so happy that these sites has banned now youth will more concentrates on thier studies these sites are time wasting. and also congrates muslims who achieved success.
Well done Govt of Pakistan, atleast on this issue Zerdari deserves my best best wishes.I also congratulate and encourage the brave people of pakistan for their immediate step on this nonsense FaceBook, AND YOU TUBE. I will like to give call to all Ummah of the world, to boycott the products of all those countries,who are involved in this shameful act.Ali
well blocking facebook and youtube, as far as i think, is an excellent step measure taken by the government of pakistan and i really applaud it.this facebook stuff has been ingrained from top to bottom in our youth and is just a mere waste of precious time of our nation, nothing else than that.i do not know how people manage to spare out hours and hours of waste and spend that on surfing random profiles and searching out videos on youtube. God knows !!
The government should ban the entire Internet in Pakistan as it is the primary pathway by which all these unwanted material can come into the country. If people don’t access the web, they can do useful things like working, studying or having a life. I think Internet, since it allows too much freedom of expression allowing anybody to create articles, pictures, music, video etc and send it to anybody in the world freely, is unislamic. All Muslim countries should join together and boycott Internet.
People who do not like the internet can stop using it. There are others in this country who are educated and moderate enough to stay away from what offends them. It is comments such as these that are working towards alienating Pakistan and Pakistanis from the rest of the world. Just because you choose to live in the Stone Ages doesn’t mean the rest of us should have to live with it.
Yes it was good decision taken by High Court to block such an Extremist site so far.And Personally I have experience it is nothing but just to kill the time of youth, and and whole days and night they spent on site to waste their precious time.So I request block this site ever that western media not to do these acts,at that stage need for Govt action to seal Danish embassy and put this issue on international forums,and with celebration with Islamic countries to boycott and to make strategies to solve this matter and stop these acts for ever.
100% agree… FB and youtube should baned permanently!!! theseare not social websites these are just for time killing.
No doubt it is very shameful act and we should protest against it. I am not a fan of FACEBOOK, However, I am not agree with the decision of this ban on facebook and subsequently on youtube. My question is how many Muslim countries banned these websites. There are hundreds of websites on the internet that contain material against Islam. Is impossible it possible for PTA to ban all those websites. In my view Muslims all over the world particularly the Pakistanis always over reacts on any issue specially the religious one. Some religious parties also use these issues for their popularity and point scoring.
Bravo!!
Proud To Be A PAKISTANI.
Other Muslim Countries Should Also Block Such Negative Social Web Site Because They r Only Time Killing
And Use less Sites
Boycotting of FB or Youtube or any other website for that matter is not going to help the cause.
Reactionary approach usually fires back. Disappointing and concerning is to see public’s apporach to the issue. We got to ask ourselves how would Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) would have reacted? We have several examples of personal hatred to which Prophet Muhammad(peace upon him) reacted kindly and did not retaliate even though he had the power to do so. Blocking and banning is only going to sensitize the issue and is going to help offender’s cause not ours!
I’m glad that these two websites have been banned.
Although as a nation we condemn this step of facebook but then very few were willing to boycot it.
If the government has taken this initiative of blocking, then it gives the signal to the rest of the world that its Nation’s decision , otherwise how would you have done it.
To what purpose and end? Granted- facebook and youtube decrease productivity. But I’m pretty darn sure that we would invent something else straight away to take their place. It’s just the way we are. Don’t blame the substance, blame the user.
This is a classic case of shooting the messenger. This is not facebook’s fault, nor is it youtube’s. In any case, last I checked, the internet gives us access to a myriad of seedy and immoral distractions. The way i see it, if you plan on blocking FB and YT, you can’t just stop there- why haven’t other objectionable websites been blocked?
Personally I’m quite embarrassed about the way we’ve handled this situation. I doubt that this step will make any difference whatsoever. And if anything, all it does is further tarnish our image on the international stage. The internet is too big an entity to be displaced by a country as weak and misguided as ours.
come on man its like our need ,,,blood in our body we cant get rid of it…if this is the situation then we should raise our own social website…our govt cant take core steps for it ,,,just a new social website..
Facebook and Youtube should be permanently banned.
It surely is hilarious as to how the only alternative available to us is banning stuff that does not conform to the ways we want it to… as much as i want to agree with the people who say that FB is a total waste of time, what they need to understand is that atleast it is a secure medium of connectivity for people who want to use it in a constructive way…
IMHO, these kind of gimmicks are a way of enticing the whole nation about something they otherwise would be totally unaware of… imagine the visitor count on the “blasphemous” pages, once this issue took the limelight…
anyway, God Bless us all… God Bless Pakistan…
How many websites does Pakistan have matching Facebook or YouTube? If the content, which I have not seen, is blasphemous and has been the basis for banning, then it should be an opportunity for Pakistani IT engineers to develop such websites, surely we a great deal of highly qualified IT professionals in Pakistan who can make equally good web pages. Any entrepreneur wants to invest in a website is most likely lose his business and all is money because of a government decree that such a website is not suitable. If Pakistan is a democratic country the matter to place a ban on Facebook and Youtube should have been debated in the parliament and an order issued. But the decision was made suddenly.