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 millions 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.

The writer can be approached through zameer36@gmail.com