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!
Z A B A R D A S T …
Nice Article (Y)
Excellent article, Dr. Najam. Very well said.
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “um no.”
– “haha grow up people… ap ki tarah facebook pe chexen post kerne k ilawa b kaam hen jo log krhe hen”
– “no its not a gud idea to bann the internet it is very important to get information”
– “Pakistan is going back to stone age, NO Electricity, NO Water, NO Internet, NO Law n order, NO Food, Only the promises of our dear Govt. HAHAHAHA”
– “Mullahs are going to ruin everything.”
– “It would be a splendid idea if we could round up all the illiterate Deobandi/Wahabi/Salafi mullahs and hang them publicly instead of bowing down to them. Seems like the “pious” are more afraid of the mullahs and the jihadis than Allah swt.”
– “Ok. Let suppose we are free 4rm all Mullahs(as u say), then what is d assurity 4 best?”
– “Judiciary is makinga fool of itself by giving license to the authorities to play havoc with the Internet only to malign it but lifting its banyan when they come to the decisions which directly touch them adversely.”
– “no comments :) it is useless to say anything regarding these websites .court decision”
– “People here are just sheep.. it won’t make a difference.. The ones who want access, will find a workaround. The others, well they never knew about them in the first place. The nature of internet makes it a bad place for censorship..”
– “WORST,PAKIETAN GOING TO B ANOTHER SOMALIA OR CHAD,V R TRAPPED BY MMA (MULLAH MILITARY ALLIANCE)”
– “no one traped u!u traped by this crap government.they hav no grief 4 people,they only want bank balances,properties n much more!
they come,make money n go,why we blame mullahs.
our recent government is worst thn mulllahs”
– “Don’t be so hasty in your judgement.
There is no one worse than our government here. Or the opposition. Or the other politicians. The people here just keep following them regardless. All this is our own doing. We are all Pakistanis, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Supporters of left or supporters of right. Whatever and whoever we are, we are ultimately linked to Pakistan. It’s my home. I would like to see it prosper. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to fix it. Are you?
Sitting and blaming each other is easy, but it damn sure doesn’t get the job done.”
– ” In this age of information, students, teachers and other professionals rely heavily on internet searches for gathering data. How will Pakistan compete with the rest of the world if access to the internet is limited?”
– “oh….people….what happend to us..i know many reasons for this…we are completly responsible for what is happening…nor a political party is responsible…”
– “I disagree….We do not need a thought police to tell us what is acceptable and what is not for consumption…”
– “and you wont take the blam for your sins…u have done on the soil of PAKISTAN”
So, the mullah is generally ignorant. When he speaks of ignorance, he bothers me to no end, but, I know he is ignorant.
But when the ignorant educated speak with full ignorance, whoa, they take you to Disney Land. And they actually bother me more. Because not only they mock the faith of good people, they mock it with full zeal, glib and giddiness.
And I really really get disappointed.
Disappointed not only at the ignorance, but also because it makes the work that much harder to take back the faith from the clutches of ignorant mullah.
The introduction of blasphemy laws in Pakistan was done by evil usurper and his cohort and co-conspirator Brohi. It is simplistic to think it was done with an idea of keeping minority under control. As a matter of fact, it was done to keep the majority in line. The majority who disagreed with them but did not control the guns. And they had a clear and precise idea that, “if we threatened those who oppose us and “our concept of Islam” with a allegation of insult to Islam, Qur’an, Allah and his Rasool, we will never have any opposition”.
This they both perfected after using public canning on the supporters of ZAB. The evil duo turned the political opposition, the democratic movement, into a crime punishable through their own evil concept of “punishment by god” (with a small ‘g’). Such was their evil. Such was their success. Such was their crime.
And we know this fully well, because they used it to bring the establishment under their control. Those who did not show up for Friday prayers, they were “noticed”. I know this, my father was duly and “strictly noticed”. Such was their evil.
And we also know, if you ask a question which is not “appreciated”, you are liable to be verbally, physically and in all other ways, assaulted. These are their ways to control the thought. And, I have been threated more than once in more than once place. And, I have been told “not to come here anymore” because I refused to accept their “fantastic” concepts about Qur’an. (Did you really expect any less of me?)
So, if one thinks that the blasphemy laws are for the minority; totally mistaken. True, minorities have been clearly abused, but then there are too many instances you have never heard because the matter was “settled” by the ignorant mullah using his “methods”. Or the fear instilled in people to start with.
Now, lets look at the state of affairs. First, the blasphemy laws should be overturned. Not only because they have no room in a civil society. And they don’t. And certainly not because this is a matter of “free speech”. It is not. (Frankly, I do not know how free speech got lined up with this? Free speech is associated with protest against an act which the person within his own domain finds stifling and wrong. It is not free speech to insult someone else. Never has been and never will be. That is pure hate speech. And those who do not condemn hate speech within their own system, will lose a sense of decency within their own system, sooner or later.) And most certainly not because this a matter of tension between secular society or religious laws.
Blasphemy laws in Pakistan should be overturned simply because they have no basis of law in Qur’an from which they allege to derive as to the basis of law. It is wrongful association.
It is both the ignorant mullah (who has no clue what Qur’an is all about) and the ignorant educated (who has no clue what Qur’an is all about) that the blasphemy laws are associated with Qur’an.
As a matter of fact, in Qur’an, the Khaliq, the Malik, rises above the pettiness of mankind. The Razik is beyond the care of being mocked by those who do not accept the Guidance (10:17-18). Sure, there is a Judgement but that will be on the Judgement Day and not before. As a matter of fact, there is actually a plea by Malik, to reason, to think, to ponder, to contemplate. That would render it inconsistent if the Creator was under the threat of blaspheme!
Now, as to the matter of Internet access. Every country has a right to impose control over what is disseminated or within the purview of the public. Nudists cannot drive cars on open roads. People are not allowed with full body clothes and shoes to jump into public pools. Movies have ratings, city and towns have zoning. Pedophiles cannot live within certain distances of public parks and schools. Games have restrictions for sale. Cigarettes and liquor are carded. Similarly, many books are not allowed in schools. Penthouse magazine is not a reading material in high school libraries. These are all activities for the good of public.
I have no problem with backlisting of websites with two provisos. First, there should be a publicly known listing of these websites so that people can challenge a possible wrong classification. Second, if someone seeks permission to access these sites, that permission should be automatically granted for an IP address (or whatever method is needed). This is almost like parental control software sold all over the world for worried parents.
And those who want to go around it by techniques they know, all power to them. I see nothing wrong. They know what they are doing and so be it. We are talking about general public and their good. Not the known or unknown intention of those who want to. If someone wants to spend time at a hate website, all power to them.
Finally, Google and other search engines are known to deliver wrong results. They do not check each website like DMOZ does. The wrong results are shown generally hen someone tries to game the search engine techniques. This is exactly why these giant search engines have a policy to blacklist a website. It is gone for ever! And there is nothing a SEO can do about it.
And if the search engines can blacklist a website, and all those who deal with search engine optimizations know this very well, then why can not countries, cities, schools blacklist them just as well?
Again, to be clear, as long as all of this happens public and open, and when someone can both question and/or access them with permission, I see nothing wrong. And each community has a right to set it’s own principles.
I hope common sense prevails and the discussion in Pakistan is not hijacked by the politically correct talking heads from all sides. You see, each side has their own champions.
Such are the times!
And as always, in matters of faith, only Khaliq knows best.
Adil,
The choice of main banner is problematic. The good namazis cannot be associated with wrong concepts and evil that is not from Qur’an.
The evil of evil usurper and his co-conspirator Brohi cannot be hung on those who bow to Khaliq.
And that young boy, could have been you or me (Though I am sure not with the “surma” for either of us).
Suggest you find the picture of evil usurper and his cohort Brohi to make the point clear.