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| India-Pakistan |
| Govt unwilling to discuss YouTube ban |
| 2014-11-07 |
| [DAWN] The government of the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) appears to be extremely sensitive to any mention of the video-sharing website, YouTube. At least that was impression conveyed by the attitude of retired Captain Mohammad Safdar, the chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication as he tried to scuttle discussion on the fate of the website that has been blocked for users in Pakistain for well over two years now. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... a ruling party MNA told Dawn that "unblocking YouTube was no longer a priority for the government" and that they had bigger fish to fry, such as the rollout of 3G and 4G services, as well as allegations of fraud in the Universal Service Fund (USF). During Thursday's meeting of the standing committee, PML-N MNA, retired Major Tahir Iqbal, asked, "How soon will Internet users be able to access YouTube again, for educational and entertainment purposes?" The committee chairman, however, seemed to be in no mood to discuss the unbanning of the website and insisted that discussion on the topic be deferred until the committee's next meeting. Then, PML-N MNA Talal Chaudhry and Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... 's Syed Ali Raza Abidi both tried to inquire about the status of the ban from the chairman of the Pakistain Telecommunication Authority (PTA). But the chairman would have none of it and adamantly replied, "We cannot discuss this today." This came as a surprise to the politicians present, who observed privately that while sensitive issues such as terrorism could be discussed in the house, a country that was actively looking to make headway in the field of information technology was afraid of even talking about unbanning YouTube, which is one of the most popular sites on the Internet today. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Plenty of Hitchens on YouTube... Gems such as the only effective cure for poverty is the empowerment of women with contraception liberating them from constant pregnancy the economic and social floor rises for everyone in the village. Or.... What is more likely, that mohammad had epilepsy, or that god would reveal his divine nature to an illiterate merchant in the deserts of araby |
| Posted by: Anon1 2014-11-07 19:11 |
| #1 Someone should translate and subtitle Christopher Hitchens into Urdu |
| Posted by: Anon1 2014-11-07 19:09 |