Adil Najam
It seems that YouTube is down in Pakistan. Possibly it is blocked.
Blocking websites is a rather bad habit that the government authorities in Pakistan have gotten into (here and here). This is something that we have written about before. It is silly habit, because technologically it does not work. But, much more importantly, it is a disturbing habit because it points towards a desire by those in authority to “control” the passions of the public. Democracy demands the very opposite – that the people control teh passions of those in power.
But the real question is, that if YouTube is blocked, then why?
There would be those who could imagine that it is because all of the mujras, soft porn and supposedly “sexy” and indecent material that might be “corrupting” Pakistani minds – not that the Pakistani or any human mind really needs YouTube to further “corrupt” our sensibilities!
But this time, the general opinion is that th ban is more “political” than “cultural”. A large number of videos with actual footages of electoral rigging were placed on YouTube and the view is that the “ban” or the “technical difficulties” that have come up are really a way to distract attention in Pakistan away from these videos, at least for the time being.
Here, for example, are two of the video … its being recorded secretly, so you will need to turn up the volume and listen carefully.
NOTE: The original videos we have posted were later removed from YouTube, these are the same videos but re-posted on YouTube later:
A number of other videos of such rigging have since been removed and one cannot be sure how long these will last. Given that this is YouTube, one should also put in a caveat that even though these look quite legit one can never be sure if these are propaganda or counter-propaganda instruments that are staged themselves. Of course some of this is all still in the realm of speculation, and we ask our readers to exercise due caution in the use and interpretation of all this.
The ban – if, indeed, it s not a technical hitch, may or may not be because of the videos. Even if it is not, it is despicable for the same reason previous bans were. And even if it is not, the videos themselves are despicable for all the obvious reasons. All of this will, of course, become all the more despicable if, indeed, there is a real ban or other government interference in this and it is because of these videos.
eh this blocking is totally pointless. just use tubemirror.com my Pakistani brothers and all is good
I am Peotry writer I write for Thy Beloved Prophet Muhammad aan I write some for you all thru thy heart, do not despare I was taught to love all an forgive all I am Spiritual Muslima sorry if I offended you in any way. I am also American, May Allah or God keep you safe as he has me always since birth.
Ban all the internet web sites because internet was also invented in the western world so y r u people using rest of the internet…and also ban people using computers bcoz computers was not invented by pakis…can any one tell me the name of the person who invented windows and operating systems that u r using on ur computers…y u r using it stop using it bcoz for ur information BILL GATES IS A JEW and he is an american…if u don’t believe me go and see on google…SO FORMAT UR WINDOWS AS WELL BCOZ MICROSOFT IS AN AMERICAN COMPANY NOT A PAKI COMPANY…so i was talking about bans…plz ban yahoo and hotmail as well…PLZ BAN F-16 FIGHTER JETS AS WELL THAT OUR AIR FORCE USES BCOZ F-16 WAS GIVEN TO PAKIS BY AMERICANS AND the IRONY IS OUR GREAT AND HIGHLY EDUCATED LEADERS GO AND BEG IN THOSE COUNTRIES FOR FINANCIAL AID AND ASSISTANCE AND THE EMBASSIES OF THOSE COUNTRIES ARE STILL OPEN HERE…i know truth is bitter…KEEP ON BANNING EVERYTHING…I AGREE WITH THE BAN OF FACE BOOK BUT NOT YOUTUBE….IF THERE IS SOME WRONG MATERIAL THEN JUST BLOCK THAT CONTENT OTHERWISE THE INFORMATION THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO HIDE CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON GOOGLE SO PLZ BAN GOOGLE AS WELL….AND ALL OF U THROW ALL WESTERN THINGS OUT OF UR HOME…EVEN COMPUTERS…BCOZ THE PROCESSOR IN UR COMPUTER IS EITHER OF INTEL OR AMD….AND ITS AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY….so y u r using, throw it away…
i m from hindustan and hindu and don’t support cartoon of prophet mohammad. but pakistan govt. must do something more productive and important than banning youtube and other sities.The content still there in youtube about prophet mohammad. Banning websities doesn’t make things better.
shame on pakistan government. zardari is a big fool.
Not only youtube but “wikipedia” , flickr and many more sites are also banned. t does not seem far stretched now that BBC and CNN will be banned too as people write offensive comments on them.