Breaking News: Twitter Banned in Pakistan

Islamabad - PTA has gone mad and blocked over 1000 Websites and Twitter is the latest one to be banned. As we told earlier, that PTA had ordered to shut down facebook.com due to LHC's verdict. But, something since then has gone fishy, the PTA (or the government) has got the perfect alibi to shut down all the criticism against it.

Websites are being banned like wild-fire, and eventually The Government, PTA and ISPs are dropping the axe on their own foot. This would result to a lot of financial loss to all stakeholders.


I say "Internet" is the platform for all this, so let's ban the internet, why just websites, you morons?


What I have said above is completely sarcastic, so please try to understand.


We muslims should be taking wise decision at such situations. Instead of banning a website like facebook, Muslim jurists and lawyers in USA should sue Facebook for violating its own privacy laws and terms of use. But, for us, the fashion is to go all ballistic, approach the infidels with Da'awah or with a sensible approach, going ballistic is the last option not the first fire Muslim brothers and sisters!

The definition of blasphemy by Ayaz Amir: www.dawn.com/weekly/ayaz/20020726.htm

But, even this page is banned in Pakistan so for those who cannot access, here it is :

What is blasphemy? By Ayaz Amir

Every now and then from some dark corner of the country comes news about a prosecution under the blasphemy law. And every now and then an obliging district judge finding the person so charged guilty hands out a sentence of death. When this happens, the collective image of Pakistan takes another blow on the chin.

Blasphemy is serious business but what exactly is it? Preferring form over substance we have turned it into a technical offence while leaving the larger context in which it might be seen unexplored.

Suppose in my street someone were to lay claim to godhead or divine revelation. I would be curious and perhaps a bit bemused. I certainly wouldn't go rushing to the police station to lodge a criminal complaint. Even if I was foolish enough to do so I would expect the SHO to tell me to cool it. But if valour prevailed over discretion and a case was indeed registered I would expect the judge concerned to throw out the case for lack of evidence.Setting aside the possibility of malicious prosecution - something, incidentally, which happens all the time - for argument's sake let us take the worst case scenario: that some benighted soul has actually burnt a page or two of the Quran or uttered sacrilegious words against God or his Prophet, (peace be upon him). Clearly, no man in his right senses would do such a thing, certainly not in Pakistan where religious sensitivities run high. But still if something of the sort is done, what does the perpetrator deserve? Our compassion and a psychiatric examination or a death sentence?

The trouble is that over the years bigotry and intolerance have made such deep inroads into our society that all three parties in the blasphemy cycle - complainant, police officer, judge - think that they are doing the right thing, and also earning divine favour into the bargain, when they are pressing charges under this law. This is zeal sanctioned by law and clothed in self-righteousness.

I draw no analogies but consider also the case of the sectarian terrorist, he who murders in the name of Islam. Far from feeling any remorse for his actions, he glories in them because he is convinced that when he kills an 'infidel' he has struck a blow for the faith and has thereby earned for himself a place in paradise. Only in this case zeal is not sanctioned by law.

Again, let us place this behaviour in context. The policies of the Zia regime, fertilized by a copious flow of American greenbacks, fostered the climate which made killing in the name of Islam a legit exercise. We ourselves of course are the authors of many of our misfortunes. But credit must also go to the United States for being the father of some of our discontents.

Partly out of genuine belief, partly out of political expediency, Gen Zia pushed religious rhetoric down the throats of the Pakistani people, all the while applauded by the Reagan administration as a sentinel of the free world. The result is self-evident: falsehood and gimmickry in the name of Islam have distorted national thinking, enshrining hypocrisy in the higher halls of government and spreading a zest for killing in fringe sections of the population.

Mercifully, General Pervez Musharraf is not cut from the same cloth. He has helped stem the tide of bigotry by not playing the religious card. For this, if nothing else, he deserves the nation's thanks. But coming back to blasphemy, to seek it in acts of obvious insanity is to devalue both Islam and the notion of blasphemy. Have we not from our infancies heard the story of the woman in Makkah who would throw refuse upon the Prophet, as he walked past her house? The Prophet never remonstrated with her. Not changing his path, in silence and with bowed head he continued to suffer this indignity until one day the woman, astounded by this forbearance, beseeched the Prophet's forgiveness and embraced Islam.

Blasphemy lies in greater things. For the people to be repeatedly denied their rights in a state founded in the name of Islam is blasphemy. Hunger and deprivation are blasphemy, something which the great Caliph Omar understood when he said that even if a dog went hungry by the banks of the Euphrates the Lord of the Hosts would hold him accountable on the Day of Judgment.

The greatest blasphemy of all is a child going hungry, a child condemned to the slow death of starvation. The miscarriage of justice is blasphemy. Misgovernment is blasphemy. An unconscionable gap between rich and poor is blasphemy. Denial of treatment to the sick, denial of education to the child, are alike examples of blasphemy. The Prophet said cleanliness is next to godliness. What would he say about the monuments to dirt and filth raised in the Islamic Republic?

The doctors and professors of the faith, whether our faith or any other, are not to be blamed for emphasizing ritual over substance because it is as interpreters of ritual - by presiding over the timeless activities of birth, death and marriage - that they derive their nuisance value and also their bread and butter. It is the state which must be careful not to legislate in matters of faith or assume the role of the maulvi for only mischief can result from such a course.

What practical benefit has accrued to the people of Pakistan by declaring Ahmedis as non-Muslims? Which is not to say that their version of Islam is correct. It is not. But is this something for the state to decide? Even if for the sake of argument we assume that the Ahmedi heresy was a cancer which had to be eradicated, in what way is Pakistan a healthier or a more prosperous country for having done so? By expelling Ahmedis from the frontiers of the faith have we become better Muslims?

All sorts of weird Christian sects are to be found in the United States, some of them with decidedly odd views about life and the hereafter. Their existence is tolerated, with a smile or a shrug of the shoulders, but no one asks for the US constitution to be amended to have these sects declared as non-Christians. The argument that we are an Islamic state where things have to be ordered differently takes us nowhere, for calling ourselves an Islamic Republic should be no excuse for indulging in irrational behavior.

Gen Zia of course went a step further when in 1979, as a sop to his allies, he issued an ordinance which made it a criminal offence for Ahmedis to call themselves Muslims or to call their places of worship mosques. This beats the understanding for if a Jew wants to call himself a Muslim, or his synagogue a mosque, it will be odd behaviour but by what stretch of the imagination should this invite the application of the criminal law? If an Ahmedi's place of worship is called a mosque, no one will be bamboozled into crossing its portals if he doesn't want to. There are different mosques in every city of Pakistan: Deobandi, Barelvi, Shiite. We choose to go where we want to.

When we made separate electorates and put minorities on separate voting lists, did that make us purer Muslims? Did we elect better legislators as a consequence? Discriminatory laws have not made Pakistan a better state, let alone one closer to the teachings of Islam. They have only given it a bad name.

Even so, we have to be realistic. No government will touch the anti-Ahmedi constitutional amendment. Such things once done are not easily undone. But the 1979 ordinance making it a criminal offence for a person of the Ahmedi denomination to show himself as a Muslim deserves to be erased from our law books. There will be some protests but that is only to be expected. The right thing must be done not for the sake of the Ahmedi community but for our own sake. Such laws diminish those who make them.

Nothing good has come from the four Hadood laws also passed in 1979 by Gen Ziaul Haq. Across the land they have only sown mischief and upped the bribery rates of the police. It is high time these bad laws were also scrapped.

TAILPIECE: Here is the last paragraph of an appeal to the Governor, Punjab, and the Begum Governor (no joking). "We the helpless municipal lady teachers of Punjab do humbly beseech you to let us remain under our respective municipal bodies instead of forcibly making us part of the education department vide Order No (LG) 10-1/2002 of 25.6.2002. The education department has no funds to pay our salaries nor any procedure to pay our pensions. Before this the octroi department was wound up but its workers being men could fight their case. They went to court and are now back on their jobs. We are poor and helpless women. With the greatest respect we beseech you in the name of God and his Holy Prophet to let municipal schools stay as part of the municipal bodies. We are in a state of great anxiety." The invocation to God and the Prophet brought tears into the eyes of even a hardened sinner like me.

CREDIT CARDS - KEY TO WOE, KEY TO OPULENCE OR JUST ANOTHER ACCESSORY!

Answer a simple question:

It is a unisexual product, kept by men and women, without which they cannot move out of the house/office so on and so forth?

Hint:  reasons for it can be disputed.

“What is it?”

“What did I hear?”

"Umm, some perfume",

"No, who carries a perfume everywhere!"

"Ah! I know a pair of Levi’s jeans, RIGHT?"

"One sec, don’t get excited!"

"Credit Cards?!"

“Don’t act smart, we will get down to that later”.

The right answer is -Wallet.

Undoubtedly not being biased, but men keep one out of requirement while the reasons why women keep are endless, in fact, at times the reasons are staggering. A wallet also acts as a first aid and/or make up kit too. The most you find in a man’s wallet is cards, cash and notes. Whilst in a woman’s wallet, you will find anything and everything, just name it and you’ve got it – lipstick, mascaras, and even pain killers!

"Hmm…so, that’s it!"

"This is what men and women keep in their wallets, did I fail to spot anything?” scratching my head which is not bald anymore.

I missed the most key fad, plastic money! The ultra slim, glossy, slim as razor blades, chicer than a size zero model and full of pulsating colors is our very own lovely credit card! The golden chip found nowadays on a credit card is for the purpose of “smart shopping”, such as using to make international calls on a jet, but it also ads a touch of elegance to the look of it, just what the cherry does on the top of the cake. How could I forget you!

The designs on credit card these days mystify my mind. Sometimes, I am in awe that these credit card firms have got psychologists instead of graphic designers because the design pattern on a credit card these days furnishes a breathtaking assortment of diverse feelings- delight, loyalty and royalty- which congregates towards the overriding feeling of all i.e. happiness. Also, it unquestionably uplifts one’s nose en route for the sky since it gives the emotion of having riches in excess as paying for shopping, meals travel and entertainment with just a swipe has made the entire experience trouble-free and simply overwhelming.

The way I see it at times, credit cards come with colossal gains, undoubtedly. First and foremost, definitely a fundamental advantage, it adds the most vital muscle, which many body builders would also resent – the muscle to purchase at will. Even if you don’t have cash, no worries, you have tripled the sums of your income in this teeny weensy little card, therefore, no need to ask for an advance from your boss anymore when you plan for a trip to Europe next time, “buy now, pay later” is the best policy! Anyways, back to the addition of this muscle in our system, interestingly, it develops ‘wings’ on to our body too (and no, I have not stolen that from Red Bull), which there on enables us to fly high and reach the world of luxury which we dream of. Voila, what an exciting innovation!

That’s not it, apart from the fundamental advantage, there are other benefits attached with this discovery of the 19^th century are the following. One, because of the cut-throat competition in the credit card industry, banks frequently offer incentives such as discounts, reward points, gift certificates, air-miles, meet – n – greet at airports, free stay at airport lounges or even CASH BACK i.e. usually around 1-2 percent of the total purchases to try to lure customers to their businesses.In other words you get rewarded for just carrying on your shopping spree.

Two, “low interest” credit cards or even 0% interest credit cards are available these days due to pull strategic business ethics. The only downside to users of low interest credit cards is that it is limited to a fixed term, between 6 and 12 months after which a higher rate is charged.

Three, most of the credit cards can also be used in an ATM to withdraw “real money" (yes, hard crispy notes) against the credit limit extended to the card which means one needs to fear about the shortage of crispy notes.

Four, credit cards have developed into a risky way for entrepreneurs to acquire capital for their enterprise when the doors to get conventional financing are shut down. It is rumored that Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s start up of Google was financed by credit cards to buy the necessary computers and office equipment, more specifically "a terabyte of hard disks". Furthermore, credit card companies offer small loans over the phone to its loyal customers at the press of few # buttons!

Five, many banks have tied up their services with companies related to telecommunications, internet, electricity, gas and water companies. Rather than standing in long ques, you can pay your bills on your favourite couch now by dialling a toll free number or through the internet, all because of the tiny invention, no hassles anymore!

Come to think of it, how did this small yet powerful thing came into existence?

Surely, must be a miracle!

I turn backed the pages of history to know more about credit cards, I was astonished to find the concept of using a card for purchases was described as early as in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward. Bellamy used the term credit card eleven times in this novel. In addition, the modern credit card was the successor of a variety of merchant credit schemes. It was first used in the 1920s, in the United States, specifically to sell fuel to a growing number of automobile owners. The old age connection of credit card with fuel is still intact today. For example, majority of the white collars and the middle class swipe their cards at fuel stations to save “cash in hand” for more important expenses and for the time of an emergency.


Well, the preceding example has made me wonder that “Credit cards bring more benefits than cash, but it needs to spend if that cash is in the pocket”.


Hmmmm…..

To come to think of it, if petrol is filled in the tank, then your car runs smoothly. But if its spilled on the car then it can even ruin your lovely car into ashes!

Hmm…

The question is – Has such a situation arise with this invention too?

The answer is a yes. Just like any invention in this century, credit cards also come with its fair share of cons. Many of the readers must be smarter than 5^th graders to know about the law of gravity i.e. you smash your bones when you fall down from a building , the “law of grace period” given by credit card firms works on the same model. If you don’t pay regularly within the grace period,  which is 20 – 30 days (depends from bank to bank), you will fall downwards in a ‘huge sticky web of debt’ where only ‘spider-man’ can come and rescue. In the West, “Spider-men” come in the form of debt reconciliation companies which help bankrupt and defaulters to pay back to the credit card companies, eventually taking them out of the mess they caused to get placed into the web in the first place. But unfortunately, in this part of the world, banks use the local mafia, because of the inefficiencies of law, to recollect bad debts, thus causing huge mental strain, at times depression and even suicide.

 

Furthermore, the menace of fraud has plagued numerous banking services and sadly it did not even spare the credit card industry. The reason is simple - the pathetic security of the credit card system presents infinite opportunities for fraudulent activities. Due to the spread of this disease it has given birth to a huge black market in stolen credit card numbers, which are generally used quickly before the cards are reported stolen. I thought it was a joke that the aim of the credit card companies is not to eliminate FRAUD these days but to reduce it to “manageable levels” so that “high-cost low-return” fraud prevention measures will not be used if their cost exceeds the potential gains from fraud reduction. That is not fair!

Let’s grab a globe and focus on Pakistan now. Due to high inflation and fluctuating petrol prices, the purchasing power of the citizens has reduced down considerably. Moreover, the constant flashing of luxuries in different mediums of media, it invokes the feeling of desiring to live in a comfortable yet materialistic world. Next, most apply for a credit card to enjoy those amenities which were banned for them as they were expensive of before. Thus, such dreams transforms into reality with the advent of plastic money in Pakistan.

Although one needs to pay high finance charges if one just pays the “minimum payment due” every month, but undoubtedly it gives the consumer the ease of making payments through monthly installments i.e. not to pay a lum sum anymore! Moreover, the health and accident insurance come along with a subscricption of a credit card makes this innovation too hard to resist. Thus, plastic money is certainly here to stay as this country is full of people with unfulfilled desires where credit card is the only hope.

Surprisingly, it’s a reality that credit cards have become a fashion accessory these days. It’s available in numerous designs, and believe it or not, you can now actually get your favorite picture printed on it thus reminding you of that precious moment everytime you go on a shopping spree. More, you can flash it infront of your peers to prove that how futuristic you are in the futuristic today.

At times negatively, it also instills the feeling of jealousy and pride simultaneously – jealous is the one who doesn’t own one and pride who owns more than one! But, that’s human nature, cannot blame credit cards for it bluntly. In the yesteryears, especially in Pakistan, young used to get married as soon as they turned young as the ones to get married the earliest were the luckiest. Fast-Forward to 2008, our generations gets hold of cell phones and supplementary credit cards, and the one to get these essentials the earliest are the luckiest. Surely, time changes everything, Is that what evolution is?

Anyways and importantly, one should remain cautious and spent wisely through credit cards otherwise these ‘devils of dooms’ will destroy the peace of our households. In simpler terms, if a credit card is used properly it changes the old saying ‘NO PAIN NO GAIN’ because if you don’t “pain” (burden) yourself with huge purchases then you just “gain again and again”! It implies that one should use this ‘product’ wisely because I find it as neutral as a hammer, it can either make you or break you, just like marriage or even facebook.


So everyone, here is my advice:


“To pay early is playing safe, so play safe to live safe”.

And, my definition of a credit card:

"CREDIT CARD - (noun) – A special card which inflates the pockets of a human being to take him/her to luxurious heights, then the human being falls down hard because late payments deflate the pockets."  

Geo News - Pakistan blocks YouTube over blasphemous material

Courtesy : Geo.tv

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has blocked the popular video sharing website YouTube in a bid to contain blasphemous material, officials said on Thursday.

The blockade came hours after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) directed Internet service providers to stop access to social network Facebook indefinitely on Wednesday because of an online competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) in gross violation of fundamental human rights pertaining to one’s religion.

Wahaj-us-Siraj, the CEO of Nayatel, an Internet service provider, said PTA issued an order late on Wednesday seeking an "immediate" blockade of YouTube.

"It was a serious instruction as they wanted us to do it quickly and let them know after that," he said while talking to a UK-based news agency.

YouTube was also blocked in the Muslim country in 2007 for about a year for what it called un-Islamic videos.

A PTA official, who declined to be identified, said the action was taken after the authority determined that some sacrilegious caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were transferred from Facebook to YouTube.

Representation of any prophet is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous in Islam, let alone the caricature or cartoon of these divine personages.

Siraj said the blocking of the two websites would cut up to 25 percent of total Internet traffic in Pakistan.

"It'll have an impact on the overall Internet traffic as they eat up 20 to 25 percent of the country's total 65 giga-bytes traffic," he said.

Publications of similar cartoons in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked deadly protests in Muslim countries. Around 50 people were killed during violent protests in Muslim countries in 2006 over the cartoons, five of them in Pakistan.

Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Islamabad in 2008, killing six people, saying it was in revenge for publication of the caricatures.

WIKIPEDIA banned in Pakistan

News from Islamabad..once again

After the LHC imposed a ban on facebook.com till 31st May 2010, it was the turn of youtube.com to get banned in Pakistan. Now, I cannot even access Wikipedia, and that too I was searching about Islam!


Something is just not right about all this!
The Government of Pakistan is being smart and is trying to censor all the articles, photos and videos which are against them. This is not a great move and I am sure people will know the true story very soon, media is quite powerful out here.


Moreover, it was a nice move from the LHC to ban facebook till 31st May 2010. I would have preferred the URL link of "Draw Muhammad Day" to be banned only but if it is the courts decision to ban the whole site for a number of days, then it is fine with me. When, these companies will lose their revenue from Pakistan, hopefully they might learn a lesson. Plus, such bans also disturbs the traffic on the websites. So, that surely will make them think to respect all religions from now on.


But, the ban should not be a permanent one as many Pakistanis would lose these vital tools. As a matter of fact, through these websites many Pakistanis and Muslims were spreading Da'awah through it. So, all such efforts would be lost. Moreover, many charities all over the world, even muslim ones, were collecting donations to ease the suffering in the Muslim World. Lack of access to these sites, will create major problems for such individuals and companies.


Instead of banning, muslim countries and muslims in USA should play a more responsible role. The lawyers should file a lawsuit against facebook especially for violating its own terms of use and privacy policy by allowing people to do hate speech and pass derogatory comments on its platform against Islam. 


We muslims, have to start thinking wisely!

Youtube banned in Pakistan today!

News from Islamabad


After the LHC imposed a ban on facebook.com till 31st May 2010, now it is the turn of youtube.com to get banned in Pakistan. Apparently, the reason for this ban is most probably the same one used for facebook as there is a huge assumption that the pictures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would be broad casted at youtube as well. 


As a part of contingency, ISPs have taken this step most probably to stop such broadcasts in Pakistan because there is nothing to be heard from courts regarding this. So it is either the government or the ISPs. The question is are they allowed to take such a step?


Plus, this has given a new twist to this issue. I believe it is the government who is taking these steps, as these mediums were used to mobilize resources and opinions against them. So, now they have got a moral justification to ban all mediums.


This is getting fishy now!