Ban on YouTube should
continue
By Zaheerul Hassan
The “YouTube ban” has
become such a bone in the throats of certain Qadiani, Ahmadi, Atheist, Secular
and other anti-Islam elements that they have made it their sole purpose to
unblock it by using all available unsocial and illegal means. I want to
straight out certain facts regarding the case, so here it goes.
YouTube was blocked in September 2012 by
Govt of Pakistan in the light of decision taken by the then Prime Minister of
Pakistan and on the orders of the honorable Chief Justice of Supreme Court of
the Pakistan. The decision was taken due to grave security situation and for
securing national security of Pakistan and for saving lives and properties of
public. Similar decisions were taken by Egypt, Libya, Iran and Afghanistan as
well.
The esteemed decision was taken due to
airing of a highly blasphemous porn movie titled “Innocence of Muslims” by a
low grade, 3rd class Israeli – American based Jew Sam Bacile who had
deliberately mocked our beloved Prophet PBUH, our Umhaat ul Momineen RA, our
khulfa e Rashideen RA and Sahaba e karam RA in this filthy movie. Soon after,
another blasphemous movie titled “The innocent Prophet” was launched again on
YouTube but Google did not take any action. However, due to the effective
measures taken by Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom (MOITT) and
Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), the situation was controlled. Instead of
lauding PTA and MOITT, these anti-Islam elements are criticizing / defaming
them.
When the movie got launched on YouTube,
Facebook, and on others websites, the anti-Islam elements exploited it for
hurting the feelings of Billions of Muslims. UN and USA kept quite on the issue
and did not take corrective measures due to which riots and protests erupted
all over the “Muslim Ummah” leading to death of a US Ambassador as well.
Pakistanis whose hearts and minds have
been blessed with love of our beloved Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be
Upon Him) protested showing their anger and frustration. USA, UN, YouTube and
owners of search engines did not take necessary actions for removing the
blasphemous contents. YouTube and Facebook still contains snaps and clippings
of this blasphemous movie.
Due to strong eruptions of emotions of
Pakistanis and Muslims all over and out of the love we have for our beloved
Prophet (PBUH), the Government of Pakistan through PTA and MOITT took a very
bold step and blocked the individual links but it was of no use because
anti-Islam elements were uploading the movie again and again on YouTube with
different names and accounts.
With no other choice, PTA and MOITT
blocked YouTube on IP level in September 2012 for calming down the hurt angry
masses. Due to this land mark decision, Millions of lives and properties of
Muslims were saved well in time since the issue was such an emotional matter
that no one could gauge what it would lead to. Certain foreign elements also
wanted to spread anarchy by taking advantage of the situation but their plan
was sabotaged. The situation was controlled well in time by the Supreme Court
and the Govt.
Now some anti-Islam elements who seem to
be on payroll of search engines , YouTube and Jews are striving hard to revert
the decision using Human Rights, Privacy Rights, Freedom of Expression and Right
to knowledge. Recently, a lawyer namely Yasser Latif Hamdani filed a writ
petition in the Lahore High Court on behalf of an NGO “Bytes 4 All” on 30 March
2013 for unblocking YouTube using lame / useless logic. “Bytes 4 All” is
run by Mr. Shahzad Ahmad who is presenting examples of laws in foreign
countries for unblocking YouTube not knowing that Pakistan is an Islamic
country and all laws and regulations are bound to be subject to Islam here as
per our Constitution. Foreign laws and examples are not followed in Pakistan.
The Honorable Judge of Lahore High Court Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah should
start an inquiry about who is funding Bytes 4 All NGO along with its linkages
with other anti Islam groups.
All of those reading this article should
know that search engines are earning Billions of dollars from Pakistan and not
paying a single penny on account of taxes to the Govt. In fact, these engines
are never interested in registering themselves in Pakistan especially Google
avoiding paying local taxes. Moreover, despite Court directions none of their
representatives appeared before Lahore High Court in the YouTube case. Now,
search engines have hired “Bytes 4 All” and lawyers like Yasser Latif Hamdani
for unblocking YouTube without registering and paying taxes. The silence of FBR
on this loss to national exchequer is also amazing and hints at possibility of
involvement of some officials of public sector who might be getting private
kickbacks for keeping the matter hidden. The Honourable Lahore High Court should
probe this matter as well that if search engines are earning billions from
Pakistan, then why are they not paying a single rupee in Tax deductions to
Pakistan?
My appeal to Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah
(Judge, Lahore High Court), Ms Anusha Rehman (Honorable Minister for IT),
Waseem Tauqeer (DG PTA) and to the people of Pakistan is that “Are anti Islam
elements going to dictate the future policies of Information Technology,
Blasphemy and National Security in Pakistan?”
It is also suggested that the Govt of
Pakistan should not unblock YouTube until favorable agreements are signed with
Google, Facebook, Twitter and other search engines, which are as per the
aspirations of the 180 million people of Pakistani.
Other video sharing platforms like Vimeo,
Daily Motion etc contain oceans of knowledge and entertainment for public use.
In the absence of proper agreements, no foreign website should be allowed to
operate in Pakistan which can pose a threat to Internal and National Security
of Pakistan and which allows defamation of our beloved Holy Prophet Hazrat
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and Islam. Government should also devise policy
and acts to get control over internet related aspects.
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