Don’t strangle the Pakistani blogosphere - Updated

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Apparently the blogspot is working and this was not a case of any order to ban the blogs. PTH carried the story below that appeared in the daily News. We apologise if the views below created a different impression. 

by RR

This is a disturbing development. Pak Tea House condemns the ban on blogs if such a diktat has come into effect. The irony of the situation cannot be missed. It was the Supreme Court that had ordered a ban on the blogs following the controversy on Danish cartoons that lampooned our Prophet (SAW). Today, the deposed judges are the subject of these blogs, and hence the ban. How the tables turn in the land of the pure….

Down with censorship - it will not work as our friends such as Dr Awab Alvi must have found a solution by now…

Pro-judiciary blogs ‘blocked’

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: Access to the blogspot.com domain - a blog hosting website which contains hundreds of blogs created by Pakistani students struggling for the restoration of the judiciary - was blocked across the country on Monday.

Students of various universities including the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), FAST-National University and the Punjab University (PU) were hosting their blogs on these websites to inform the world about the situation in the country.

These blogs were providing up-to-date information on protests of students, civil society and human right activists against the government. These blogs also contained information on the struggle for the restoration of judiciary and the free media and political problems facing Pakistan.

Some of the most popular blogs created by Pakistani students are Rise Of Pakistan. blogspot.com (by LUMS students), PakistanMartialLaw.blogspot.com (by LUMS students), FastRising. blogspot.com (by FAST students), PURevolution. blogspot.com (by PU students), EmergencyPK. blogspot.com, AcademicsForFreedom.blogspot.com and WatanDost.blogspot.com.

Talking to The News students alleged that the government had banned the blogs hosting website because most of the blogs contained anti-government material. A blogger, Ahmed, told The News that the ban on blogs had been imposed a week after President ratified the Cyber Crimes Bill. “The bill has been termed by many students as the Pemra ordinance-like attempt to snatch the freedom of expression,” he added.

Another blogger said many research projects were going on various blogs. “A project, the Name and Shame Campaign, was in progress on a blog, riseofpakistan. The blog was collecting information on all prominent politicians of the country,” the blogger added.

A LUMS student, asking not to be named, said these blogs were a main source of mobilising the student community across the country. “These blogs have brought a large number of students under the banner of the Students Action Committee (SAC),” he added.

A student said after the ban on some blogs, a movement, ‘Slap The Ban’, had been started to inform students how to access the banned blogs. He said if somebody wanted to access PakistanMartial Law. blogspot. com, they would have to type http://www.pkblogs.com/pakistanmartiallaw to access the banned blog.

When contacted, Information Technology Ministry (Telecom) Member Noorud Din Baqai said no instructions to ban certain websites had been issued by the Inter Ministerial Committee on national issues.

An IT expert, seeking anonymity, told The News that in September, 2007, for some unknown reasons, Google had suddenly reverted to its original IP address, which had been put on the block list in the country since March, 2006.

“This move resulted in blocking all Internet traffic to the blogspot.com domain. The domain might have been blocked because of the same problem,” he observed. The website was lying blocked till the filing of this report.

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