Adil Najam
Pakistan seems ready to ban the Internet (again) (well, parts of it)!
On the face of it, this is Internet banning silly season all over again. But wait. Maybe, this is different. Maybe, its not even a bad thing! Maybe, this is exactly what we need!
But before I explain why this may be so, here are the essential facts. The machinations of banning the Internet in Pakistan are not new. It has sometimes been done to silence political speech (and here), but its more common and certainly its recent incarnation is in the name of religion. Of course, the frenzy was at its height recently with the ‘Facebook ban.’ Now it seems that the Lahore High Court has ordered the banning of an entire range of websites, possibly including Google, Yahoo, MSN and Bing. Supposedly, the government’s position is that “no website will be blocked without investigation,” but also that websites will be blocked to comply with the court’s rulings.
Why, you ask. Here is how the report in The News explains it:
A citizen, Muhammad Sidiq, filed a writ petition No. 3246/2010 in the LHC, seeking a ban on the websites for publishing blasphemous materials and twisting the facts and figure of Holy Quran. Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Hussain Azad also endorsed the viewpoint of the petitioner and demanded blocking of these websites. Counsel for the petitioner, Latif-ur-Rehman Advocate presented CDs and other evidence in the court, showing that the said websites were publishing sacrilegious material. Later, President High Court Bar Aslam Dhakkar said the court has given a historic decision. He said the legal fraternity would observe a complete strike in Bahawalpur on Wednesday (today) against publication of such material by these websites. He said a meeting would also discuss the situation today.
It is not yet fully clear exactly what will happen because of this ruling, but it is very clear that no matter what happens we are going to keep getting a host of such cases. People will find things on the Internet that they are offended by. While I have never understood why people spend so much time and energy trying to find things that offend them, it is the nature of the Internet that everyone (and I mean, everyone) can find lots of things on it to be offended by. Conspiracy, idioticy, lies, ridicule. Its all there. What you choose to see on the Internet is your choice, not the Internet’s. (Maybe the Honorable Judge Sahib should have booked Mr. Muhammad Sidiq for visiting blasphemous site. Why is his faith so insecure as to be shattered by a website. After all, why is he going around searching for blasphemy!).
It would be too easy, however, to blame the Judge for giving a ‘wrong’ decision. Its too easy for Internet Freedom advocates to seek a reversal of the decision. But the fact of the matter is that the decision is NOT wrong. Under the laws of Pakistan, as written, blasphemy is indeed punishable and such sites should, indeed, be banned. The problem is not the judges or their decisions. The problem is the laws as they are written. And that means that the solutions will not come through the courts, but through society and through legislation. Blasphemy laws have been used nearly exclusively to exclude and to intimidate.
Historically, these blasphemy laws have been used to exclude and intimidate minorities. Now, the exact same tactics are being used to exclude and intimidate speech. The one thing you can be sure of is that we will see more and more of this. And our courts and judges will have no option but to rule as they have been ruling. Because that is what the law demands.
And herein lies the point about why banning the Internet in Pakistan may actually be a good thing.
Intimidation through these laws has never hurt the majority of Pakistanis, and certainly not those who matter in any consequential way. But Internet bans, no matter how temporary, do exactly that. The broader the Internet ban, the deeper the hurt, and the more it matters to those who matter. Maybe it will take repeated bans for us to realize the injustice, the exclusion and the intimidation that is baked into these laws.
The fact of the matter is that whatever inconvenience these Internet bans may cause are inconsequential in comparison to the actual murder and mayhem that is caused to minorities in Pakistan because of the same blasphemy laws. If this inconvenience is the way to awaken to the much greater injustice in these laws, then maybe these Internet bans are a good thing, after all. If, indeed, that were to happen, it would be an inconvenience well worth it!
“Closing of the gates” happened much earlier, starting in the 10th century of the common era(3rd/4th of the hijri calendar).
The greatest wrong was done by these scholars. While they actually soared to new heights of human understanding and reasoning, they also established the lows in explaining the message of Qur’an.
Coincidentally, the codification of the Sunnah also happened in the same period. And it remains problematic that both the sharia (with a small ‘s’) and the sunnah (also with a small ‘s’) as pushed by the ignorant mullah has concepts that are foreign to Qur’an. As a matter of fact, many of the real problematic concepts like blasphemy etc. can be traced to other faiths rather than Qur’an.
The ignorance of the mullah can simply be explained by repeating and adhering to these concepts. The ignorance of the educated can be simply explained by not understanding these concepts.
I strongly believe the law of banning is one-sided and is simply unjust ,unfree and against the simple Common Good
and also beleive the basic requirements for staying alive: food/water, clothing, shelter and Internet.
.. once dynamic and progressive Islamic civilization turned into mediæval rigidity
“… the decline of Islam began approximately in the 15th century …. Gradually, Islamic law was ‘frozen,’ so that the interpreters of the law could no longer apply their independent reasoning to it. They were obliged to live with the interpretation that had been reached when the ‘freeze’ took place. This event is known to shari’a (religious law) scholars as ‘the closing of the gate of ijtihad’ — ijtihad had meaning ‘the struggle for understanding,’ or more sim-
ply the use of reason. It was replaced by taqlid, the submissive acceptance of earlier interpretation. Continued interpretation ceased because it was said to show disrespect for earlier jurists.
Taqlid brought with it serious problems. … Some Islamic scholars …. believe that the closing of the gate was a major cause of the decline of Islam. … With independent thought no longer desired, law in the Muslim world became dominated by people of a subservient disposition who were attracted to the service of power. … Taha al Alwani denounces the fallen stateof the Muslim world …. ‘Muslims and non-Muslims alike are amazed that one of history’s most advanced civilizations could fall into such a state of overwhelming wretchedness, ignorance, backwardness and overall decline ….’ He believes that the ingrained deference to authority and the discouragement of reason that began with the ‘closing of the gate’ is an important part of the explanation.”
(Tom Bethell, “The Mother of All Rights,” Reason 25 (April 1994), p. 45.)
NNaseem Hijazi, the famous Urdu writer who wrote some great novels mixing Islamic history with love stories between Muslim men and Kafir women (us gairat-e-Kafir ki har taan hai Deepak) wrote a comedy…If my memory serves me right, it was Sau saal baad. It mentions Pakistan and India after 100 years of independence. He took the Hindu concept of Gau Hatya to a whole new meaning. According to him, the Indians constructed a wall along their borders becuz for Hindus, it was a sin to get out of the borders of India. Inside this wall, no animal was ever killed making the life of the inhabitants a living hell. Even his concept of Pakistan was progressive one.
Now let’s look at today. Our neighbors are fed up with us. They are all in for making a wall to isolate us from them. We are renowned to be exporters of terror. Our rulers are corrupt and without any kind emotions towards the masses they rule. We redefine our religion to the crudest form to make life for minorities a living hell. Our courts, who supported every act of dictatorship since independence suddenly become so hyper active and so paak, they have made governance a living hell. Our armed forces only accomplishment has been to kill and WIN wars against their own people. We are spending our half of our budget on defense. Defense of what? We now spend more money saving our nuclear devices than we spent on developing them. Yet our men, women and kids are committing suicides because life is a living hell for them.
And what our justice system does? Instead of providing speedy justice to the needy they are accepting and passing orders on petition banning websites. Our judges are stupid and computer illiterate. They have no idea of what it all means and it is again contributing to portray Pakistan as a living joke. My suggestion is, when a person or family commits suicide, the district and high court judge of that area and the cour commander should be hanged on the chowk. Perhaps atleast they will prove once and for all that they are independent and are ready to take responsibility for all the ills in the society.
Will somebody pls send a petition to the courts…OR will they will take a sumoto action on this post.
Sorry I forgot to post a song that goes with my comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KbGJcxenDc&feature =related
Isnt that what we do in Bollywood and Lollywood movies? :)
Good news! Or should I call it a breaking news :)
Pakistani Mullahs Are Getting Advanced
I am not being sarcastic like the author :) But I had the opportunity to listen to a pakistani mullahs and this time after talking to him I didnt feel like banging my head to the wall. He was fluent in english (which is not an achievement by the way) but his thoughts were moderate and fair. Although he might be among very few but its a start.
This hopes that pakistan is not afterall a lost cause.