[The following article was initially posted to the AOPP pakeditor mailer by Adnan Gill. Later cross posted to the PakSEF Virtual S&T Think Tank.]
This is issue about internet censorship is an issue of concern. The internet is a one of the few mediums which has revolutionized the world, bring peoples from various regions closer together, exposing people in remote parts of the globe to novel ideas, bringing about constructive social change, providing University level education to peoples who once couldn't even fathom attending a prestigious College or University.
The internet has indeed opened up many doors where people can benefit and grow themselves, however this internet revolution is threatened by various authorities (both government and private) who try to control the flow of information to their constituents.
This is issue about internet censorship is an issue of concern. The internet is a one of the few mediums which has revolutionized the world, bring peoples from various regions closer together, exposing people in remote parts of the globe to novel ideas, bringing about constructive social change, providing University level education to peoples who once couldn't even fathom attending a prestigious College or University.
The internet has indeed opened up many doors where people can benefit and grow themselves, however this internet revolution is threatened by various authorities (both government and private) who try to control the flow of information to their constituents.
AR Rafiq
PakSEF, www.paksef.org
Kindling the flame of Science & Innovation...
Adnan Gill
WHILE the global uproar over the government’s recent attempts at gagging the mainstream media in Pakistan may lead it to a hands-off-the-media policy for now, it brings little relief to those nationalist media organs and groups whose websites continue to be blocked. Dozens of internet blogs and sites run by Baloch, Sindhi and even smaller ethnic groups continue to face the ban, with internet service providers forced by the government to apply filters to block their viewing in the country. While the initiated internet users know how to circumvent the ban via a third domain, it is the blocking of direct access to a particular blog or a socio-economic and political forum which presents the government and the country in equally bad light as do attempts to gag the popular media. The internet is a common cyberspace shared by users globally; there are innumerable sites run by rights activists which provide lists of the websites banned by a given government. Gen Musharraf’s has the dubious distinction of being listed among the world’s most xenophobic regimes censured for curtailing people’s access to information.
That this has been happening for months with media organs representing Pakistan’s smaller ethnic communities which do not find a voice in the mainstream media is all the more reprehensible. It is good that now when the national media and civil society are rallying behind the cause of the freedom of the press, the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement has also decided to take part in the multi-party conference called by the PML-N in London later this week. This will provide the nationalist leaders a wider platform from which to voice their grievances and become part of the mainstream opposition to press the government for greater civil liberties and for enforcing the rule of law.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/19/ed.htm#3
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