Pakistan has blocked access to the YouTube so that Pakistanis cannot watch an unidentified clip that is considered offensive to Islam. In the process, they made technical mistakes, and YouTube suffered a global blackout. Here are some reactions from the subcontinent.
Rashid Qureshi, the spokesman for Pervez Musharraf: We have every right to protect the ignorance of Pakistani people from the propaganda that is disseminated through low grade short clips on YouTube. Propaganda is the job of our government, and we do not need any help from foreign powers like YouTube. It is not a censorship: our media is free to show occasional assassinations, daily bombing, videos made by Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, pirated movies from Hollywood. This clip on YouTube poses the greatest threat to the current stability and peace of Pakistan. We would do anything to keep the peace: burn embassies, dissolve judiciary and parliament, and impose martial law.
Imran Muhammad Saleem, a 59 year old farmer from rural Pakistan: I think government is right to take the tube out. If it was near my village, I would go with my hoe and help them dig it out. This is land of our forefathers, and foreigners have no right to put tube in here – unless it is a water pipe.
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Rahim Masood, a 24 year old student and a pro-democracy leader: This is unfair and against democracy. If we are not allowed to see offensive material on YouTube, you tell me how will we know what to protest against? How will we decide which flag to burn? In this information age, access to offensive information is a must. For many centuries, we missed countless opportunities to get offended, endless insults against Islam were not heard by true believers. The current government wants us to go back to the dark ages. But we would not let that happen; we would keep fighting with bricks and stones.
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Dr. Prakash Bhatia, professor of foreign relations at the University of Mumbai: I can assure you this is no accident. This was a blatant attempt by Pakistani government to sabotage the Indian IT industry. They tried doing it through terrorism before. When that did not work, they cut off our access to YouTube. They will stop at nothing. I tell you, soon they would target all the free download sites for Hindi cinema.
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Manju Patil, a 45 year old mother and devoted Hindu: My son-in-law from America told me about the blackout over the phone. I asked him if they are safe. I told him not to worry: I will send him a box of candles soon. But I feel sorry for the people of Pakistan. I think they should go to temple and pray to Lord Vishnu to avoid this sort of things. Daily bath in Ganges would also help.
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Suresh Rao, a 26 year old software engineer from Bangalore: This shows Pakistan is no where near the IT needed to compete with India. How can they build nuclear technology if they keep making these kinds of IT mistakes? They need better software engineers. I think they should just outsource all their research to India, and then they can have their nuclear weapons cheaper and faster.
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Deepak Malhotra, a 36 year old bank employee from Delhi: Pakistan is just wasting time: blocking does not work. I know it first hand. My company tried blocking access many times. But I always find a way to chat with girls online and check out the adult sites.
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Rima Bose, a 19 year old call center employee in Kolkata: Does that mean internet is down, and I do not have to go to work tomorrow?
FabbiGabby
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jaded_mind
Too good. Reminiscent of The Onion’s style.
I wonder what Bal Thackeray would have to say, being a religious fundamentalist but also having been a cartoonist in the past.
To Prateek: Thank you. As for style, the format is not borrowed from Onion, it is stolen: it is exactly the format Onion uses for three person opinions. I always enjoyed it.
great post once again………….
To anuradha: Thank you, once again. Hope once in a while you enjoy our posts.