Adil Najam
The news is finally in. As expected, the Lahore High Court has lifted the ban it had earlier imposed on the social networking site, Facebook.
So, what is the lesson in all of this? Who gained what in this entire episode? And who lost what?
The essentials of the news, as reported in The Express Tribune, are as follows:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) lifted the ban on social networking website Facebook on Monday. During today’s proceedings, the court demanded gaurantees that such content will not be accessible to users in Pakistan. The court observed that the act would be treated as contempt of court if it is repeated again. Meanwhile, deputy attorney general and PTA representative assured the court it would not happen again.
The court also outlined the government’s responsibility in such cases. The Lahore High Court banned Facebook on May 19 for hosting a blasphemous drawing contest and asked PTA to submit a written reply. Menwhile, the next hearing was adjourned till June 15. The popular social networking website was banned by the Lahore High Court after a controversy over it hosting blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Muslims across the world were offended by a Facebook page which declared May 20 a day to caricature Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Despite a growing surge of protests by Muslims, Facebook had opted not to remove the page. The court had temporarily banned the social networking site Facebook till May 31 across the country. It had issued the order after an Islamic forum of lawyers sought ban on access to the popular social networking site for holding a contest of drawing caricatures on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Salam,
I consider myself a ‘practicing’ muslim, and I am Pakistani. And, I believe this ban was for intents and purposes not just counterproductive, but also an extremely RETARDED decision. Those who went all hysterical (or were seemingly ‘concerned’), failed to realize that their rather whimsical actions were and are being used by our beloved govt. to start imposing an information lock down. For instance they may have lifted the ban on youtube but they have blocked ‘specific’ youtube links. They’ve done the same with BBC’s website.
As far as defending the honor of Rasul Ullah (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wassalam) is concerned here’s a question I have for all those emotionally challenged ‘defenders of faith’ (half of whom don’t even bother praying):
Wouldn’t it have had been a better idea if some ‘real’ effort was put into a ‘counter’ campaign, showing the beauty and mercy of our Prophet’s (saw) character and life? Why didn’t we bother ? I believe because we aren’t actually concerned we just have this serious problem of collective ‘cognitive dissonance’ where we claim to be something, and do something else.
Here’s a glimpse of what MUSLIMS were doing in theREST of the WORLD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xviwk3eCWCU&feature =related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0v3-3yCbr8&feature =related
Why couldn’t Pakistanis do this? What’s wrong with being proactive and meaningful? Do we as Pakistanis imagine ourselves to be the ONLY muslims? OR have we fallen to claptrap that we are ‘special’ people of a ‘special’ land?
When will we stop using the pretense of ‘faith’ to justify our own idiocy? (Note: I’m not denying the classical ‘punishment’ in Islamic Jurisprudence for a ‘shaatim-e-rasul”, but everything has its time and place).
Only if we had bothered to “Guide” people, instead of reiterating their own hatred and Islamophobia, with our own pointless actions. In the end I doubt that the way we acted, actually guided any non-muslim towards Islam, or even dispelled any misconceptions. Well done Pakistan!!!!
I think that now all those so-called liberal people will be more than happy who were against the ban since the very first day but I will still say that decision of PTA to impose the ban was a timely good decision.
I am done with depicting myself as “Liberal Muslim” to the world without regard for my religious fundamentals.
I am angry because facebook did not respond to the disgrace caused to my beloved Prophet (P.B.U.H)
Faithful billion is a dazzling social network to get connected with your family, friends, classmates and relatives who are far away from you since long. Now, you can share your ideas, thoughts, songs, poetries, and photos with everyone you want to.
It is simply full of entertainment with respect for everyone. Here at this community, we value your identity; we do not mean to hurt your perspectives for religion, race, color, ideology, ethnicity and gender. In fact, we are here to promote humanity not any specific religion.
I have deleted my account from facebook and orkut and joint the GreenBillion campaign…
I am really impressed with this nifty idea of designing such an interesting community.
I will truly invite you to join me at this platform….
http://www.faithfulbillion.com
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD
SIGNUP NOW!!! You will surely enjoy here.
Fwd this message you all your friends and network.
This is laughable: ‘the court observed that the act would be treated as contempt of court if it is repeated again’.
Now that we have achieved our revolutionary goal of ‘azaad adlia’, we’ll see more and more judges making fools of themselves.
Great blog!
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Such initiatives make us proud to be Pakistanis. Together we can take Pakistan to great heights of success!
Do visit our website http://www.azmealishan.com