Officials of Pakistan Telecommunications Authority stated thay they have ordered operators to block YouTube due to “growing sacrilegious content”. They stated that they reached the decision this Thursday after all “possible avenues were used within its jurisdiction, including using regular channels available on the Facebook and YouTube to launch protest, to avoid appearances of derogatory material available on their web sites.” Access to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, and Flickr, a photosharing site, were restricted starting Thursday.
Facebook was blocked temporarily in a row over a competition which involved caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. It was blocked a day before the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” which was scheduled by a Facebook group bearing the same name. According to Islam, these are blasphemous acts. There had been protests in several Pakistani cities caused by the Facebook competition. Khoram Ali Mehran of the telecommunication authority said, “Obviously (the blocking of Facebook ) is related to the objectionable material that was placed on Facebook. That is why it is blocked. We have blocked it for an indefinite time. We are just following the government’s instructions and the ruling of the Lahore High Court. If the government decides to unblock it, then that’s what we will do.” Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said “Islam discourages any visual representations of the prophets of God — Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, anybody — because we believe it can lead to a form of idol worship. The majority of Muslims worldwide object to any representation of a prophet of God.”
A series of cartoons of Mohammed in a Danish Newspaper published in 2005 caused many riots around the world and now there are at least two European cartoonists who live under police protection after the publication of their drawings of the Muslim prophet. Mimi Sulpovar, the one who started the Facebook group,(claimed to have gained the idea form a bleeped out episode of “South Park”)said “This extends beyond being able to draw. If it’s offensive to you, that’s fine, but I don’t feel it’s right to impose your belief on others through intimidation. She also stated that the decision to block Facebook was “ridiculous.” Sulpovar’s group and a similar one had attracted about 7,000 fans whereas the Groups opposing the idea gained 68,000 fans.
Related posts:
- YouTube is added to the banned sites in Pakistan
- Today Is Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
- Pakistan Prohibits Facebook in the Country Because of “Draw Mohammed Day”