As it refused to stop an online competition to post images of Prophet Mohammad
Pakistan on Sunday blocked the micro-blogging social networking site Twitter for about 12 hours because it refused to stop promoting an online competition on Facebook to post images of Prophet Mohammad.
According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Mohammed Yaseen, Facebook agreed to address Pakistan's concerns but Twitter refused to oblige.
Negotiations, he said, went on till late Saturday night and when Twitter did not comply, the Ministry of Information Technology issued instructions to block the micro-blogging website.
The ban came into effect around 11 a.m. (local time) on Sunday as the twitterati of the country were tweeting till about that time.
Maintaining that PTA just forwarded the Ministry's instructions to all Internet Service Providers, including mobile phone companies to block Twitter, Mr. Yaseen added that this restriction would be lifted once the micro-blogging site addressed Pakistan's concerns. The ban was lifted around 10.30 p.m.
The government's action evoked a mixed response with some welcoming the move while many wondering why Pakistan had to be so sensitive as there were no reports of other Islamic countries blocking either Facebook or Twitter.
Twitter and Facebook are hugely popular among the netizens of the country with many finding it the safest avenue to vent their angst over contentious issues.
Keywords: Twitter, social networking, online censor, blasphemy
Cockroaches are afraid of light.
I think an extremely unpopular government is trying to restrict the flow of information prior to taking another unpopular decision on NATO supplies. The government is also trying to hide the snub Zardari got in Chicago. In the Pakistani media there is no mention of Obama and the NATO chief refusing to have a personal audience with Zardari, I didn't see it in your newspaper for that matter.
I don't understand why pakistan is always so considered about the issues regarding Islam?? There are lot many issues other than this But still they are completely stucked with this !!
Pakistan could ban Tweeter website if they are not finding it appropriate. However there may be wide range of websites, which could be banned in Pakistan. When a movie/website/book is banned in a region for any reason, unfortunately, it becomes more popular, not only in that region but also in rest of the world which was yet unaware of it. Those who were unaware of it, may try to see what was it, may be just to validate if it should actually be banned or not. Social networking sites are for users not for Governments to access and validate its contents. Nowadays users do have the option to "Report abuse" or in other way any such post can be easily turned down by users. The social networking sites are meant for human beings to express their thoughts and share them for others.
Good efforts made by Pakistan and the other Muslim countries should do the same. It is surely true that we Muslim regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous. All Muslims should stop using Twitter till they agree to remove the material considered offensive to Islam.
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