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| Attack on personal freedoms |
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The PPP government's decision to launch a crackdown on those who send 'anti-government' SMS and/or emails is nothing but a violation of our basic right to freedom of speech. As expected, the excuses given by the party's spokesperson appear hollow. She claimed that the messages were being initiated from Lahore, thereby suggesting that there was an ulterior motive to their creation and that the public was gullible and tended to believe unverified information -- which should not be allowed to circulate.
I would like to inform the government and its spokesperson that sending emails or SMSs constitutes private communication and is not the same as a news medium -- where indeed the information being disseminated and distributed or exchanged needs to be verified. These are simply personal expressions from one individual to another, and a crackdown on this is tantamount to cracking down on what we say to another person verbally -- because the effect of the SMS is more or less the same.
Please use some common sense and stop being so intolerant of criticism.
Ali Shah
Rawalpindi
*****
The suggested Orwellian Cyber Crime Act is a grim reminder that under the guise of war against terror the government is curbing the few civil liberties that are left for the citizens of Pakistan. The implementation of the law would mean that potentially every email that one sends can be read by the FIA and its contents deemed harmful. Big Brother instead of catching murderers, rapists, thieves and suicide bombers would now focus on cheeky teenagers, zealous bloggers and loony conspiracy theorists.
There are a number of mailing lists that consistently spread disinformation and sell half-baked opinion as unquestionable analysis. But isn't an alternative (even silly) point of view essential for the debate that is required for a functioning democracy? It is also sad to see that the penalty of committing a thought crime is 14 years of imprisonment. While the religious right thinks that immoral behaviour is the root of all evil in Pakistan the 'liberal left' thinks that SMS is the basis of all the problems that plague Pakistan.
Adnan Cyprian
Riyadh
*****
This is in reference to the announcement by our interior minister to punish those spreading propaganda against the government through SMS. If some one is sending SMSs that intend to expose the poor management and policies of the government then instead of breaking the mirror they should fix the problems they have.
Muhammad Amir Khan
Karachi
*****
What Rehman Malik needs to comprehend is that all over the world thousands of politicians and bureaucrats are bashed everyday using the electronic media, text messaging service and the internet. The medium includes jokes on mobile phones, cartoons on emails and newspapers and so on. Politics is not a religion and neither are politicians prophets that they can invoke blasphemy if criticism is heaped on them. So if Rehman Malik or President Zardari or Nawaz Sharif has objections to the jokes that circulate on mobile phones or the internet about them, they should learn to smile without being too obsessed with conspiracy theories or using law to launch campaigns.
In any case, knowing technology, the government in all probability is not equipped with the tools to carry out this kind of monitoring. Instead of paying such attention to pranksters, the government is advised to work diligently for the benefit of the people and that will in itself reduce the relevance of such SMSs and emails.
Shehzad Ahmed Mir
Islamabad
*****
It has come to my knowledge that one can now go to jail for 14 years for sending an SMS or an email critical of the government. Here is a list of other crimes and their corresponding punishment: terrorism -- one can become a VIP like Maulana Fazlullah; defying a customs check at the airport -- no punishment at all, especially if you can claim that you didn't know that such a law existed (also it helps if you happen to be a minister); karo kari and honour killing -- no punishment whatsoever.
Fayyaz Mahmood
Lahore
*****
The government's assertion that it would check SMS and email messages containing indecent, provocative and ill-motivated stories against the civilian leadership and that initiators of such messages will be punished under the law, is one of the latest clamps on dissenting voices by the 'democratic' government. Such an act clearly exposes the hypocritical claims of guaranteeing freedom of expression and the right to one's opinion by the civilian leadership of Pakistan. During Musharraf's dictatorship, the PPP championed the cause of democracy accusing Musharraf of forcefully silencing his opponents. Now the party is following in general's footsteps.
The last few years have seen an increase in the public's interest in political developments going on in the country with private news channels, popular websites and SMS messages playing an important role in increasing awareness on such matters. Banning modern tools of communication and any criticism which they may carry is tantamount to accepting the regime's extreme unpopularity. We were told it was the Taliban who wanted to enforce their viewpoint through force and ban anyone who disagreed with them. So should we brace ourselves for another military operation against ISPs and mobile phone companies?
Moez Mobeen
Islamabad
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