Now, they won't git to see all th' purty pitures!

Pakistan blocks YouTube, Facebook as backlash grows

by Sami Zubeiri Sami Zubeiri – 16 mins ago
You recon they can actually read the sign they're holding up?

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan on Thursday condemned caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that appeared on Facebook, blocking the social networking site and YouTube in a growing backlash over Internet "sacrilege."

Several thousand activists protested against the drawings and denounced the West in an expression of outrage that sparked comparisons with riots across the Muslim world in 2006 over drawings published in European newspapers.

The caricatures appeared on Facebook after a private user asked people to submit drawings of the Prophet Mohammed in an online competition that sparked fury in conservative Muslim Pakistan.

Sweden said Thursday it had closed its embassy in Islamabad for more than two weeks due to the security situation, refusing to say whether any direct threats had been issued against the mission.

An Al-Qaeda front organisation has offered 100,000 dollars to anyone who kills Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has angered many Muslims by drawing the Prophet with the body of a dog.

"We strongly condemn the publication of blasphemous caricatures of our holy Prophet on Facebook," foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters in the capital Islamabad.

"Such malicious and insulting attacks hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world," he said.

Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and Muslims across the globe staged angry protests over the publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammed in European newspapers four years ago.

In 2008, a suicide attack outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad killed eight people. Al-Qaeda claimed the attack to avenge the cartoons.

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) extended a ban on Facebook, ordered by a court until May 31, to wildly popular video sharing website YouTube and restricted Wikipedia.

The PTA said it had blocked more than 450 links to derogatory material on the Internet, defending the move "in view of growing sacrilegious content."

The regulator called on Facebook and YouTube to resolve the matter as soon as possible in a manner that "ensures religious harmony and respect".

Pakistan also briefly banned YouTube in February 2008 in a similar protest against "blasphemous" cartoons of Mohammed.

Facebook expressed disappointment at being blocked and said it was considering whether to make the offending page inaccessible in Pakistan.

Wahaj us Siraj, a spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, said blocking Facebook and YouTube would slash up to 25 percent of all Internet traffic in Pakistan.

Around 400 people including about 100 women from the main Islamic opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami staged a rally in Islamabad late Thursday.

Carrying banners that read "Blasphemous act is punishable by death" and "We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the holy Prophet" the protestors chanted slogans before dispersing peacefully, witnesses said.

An earlier rally by the party's student wing called for a boycott of Facebook. Shouting "Al-Jihad, Al-Jihad" they denounced Israel and urged people to lay down their lives for Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

In the eastern city of Lahore, several thousand people, including members of banned organisation Jamaat-ud Dawa -- considered a front for the militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks -- organised five separate rallies.

They chanted "down with America" and called for an end to diplomatic relations with Denmark, Sweden and Norway, trampling flags of those countries into the ground as an expression of disgust, an AFP reporter said.

"The Muslim nation should announce a Jihad against such blasphemous acts. We should stand up against these conspiracies", said Afzal Qadri, leader of the Tanzeem Ahle Sunnat party.

In Karachi, about 200 people rallied to condemn the United States, where Facebook is based and branding the makers of "blasphemous caricatures" the "biggest terrorists of the world", said an AFP reporter.

But the bans also sparked debate about freedom of expression in a country with a relatively free media, an estimated two to 2.5 million Facebook users and a sizeable, largely Western-educated elite.

Some intellectuals and members of the elite disapproved of the ban, despite their anger over the caricatures, saying censorship could fan extremism in a country already hit hard by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence.

Throw 'em a pork chop!

Disrespect is not needed, like in the OP.

I believe it is probably a good thing since they take is soooo seriously when their saint is made fun of.

How do you respect a murderous pedophile?

One of his wives was six years old. He had enough respect for her to wait til she was nine years old to bust the cherry.

You say that like it is specific to that culture.

Women have been mistreated throughout history by every culture that exists.

Not a good point.

Again without the disrespect.

It is good they do not look at it because they take it ssoooo seriously.

Wut other cult preaches marryin' off kids?

Didn't you read the news a couple weeks back about the muslim that just recently killed his 13 year old wife. He was slammin' it to her and broke the box.

She bled to death.


BTW, Her Mother helped tie her up.

That sickness happens all over the world.

So you are still not making any points, other than showing your bias.

Again without disrespect I believe it is good that they are not looking at the website since they become so offended by the subject matter of it.

Read the post. Even the folks who visit those sites can't.

They have been blocked and the sites aren't available to them.

Their Gov. decided what's best for them.

Again, how do you respect pedophiles?

so?

Who would care to have their picture taken?

Say cheeeese!

Pediphilia is your issue and not part of the OP at all.

Again I will say without disrepect.


It is good that they are not looking at it since it is a problem for them.

Their Saint was a Murdering Pedophile.

Want proof?
Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: When I got married, Allah's Apostle said to me, "What type of lady have you married?" I replied, "I have married a matron' He said, "Why, don't you have a liking for the virgins and for fondling them?" Jabir also said: Allah's Apostle said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl so that you might play with her and she with you?' Sahih Al-Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 17.

Here's a little article from last Feb.



A 12-year-old Saudi girl has given up her fight to divorce an 80-year-old man her father forced her to marry in exchange for a dowry, according to Saudi media quoted by AFP.

Despite support from human rights lawyers and child welfare advocates, the girl and her mother, who originally sought the divorce, unexpectedly withdrew the case Monday. The girl told a court that her marriage to the man was done with her agreement, according to Okaz newspaper.

The case caused an uproar after Al-Riyadh newspaper reported that it had been consummated. The girl pleaded with a journalist from the newspaper to “save me”.

I don't think anyone forces them to "LOOK" at the website. But if they want to cut themselves off from the world that is their choice. If they do that then they should probably stay off of our servers too. So if they ban us, we might just ban them.

I wonder if they will like that?

Facebook page that led to Pakistani ban removed

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Chris Brummitt, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 50 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – A Facebook page that was considered offensive to Islam and led to a Pakistani ban on the site has been removed, possibly by its creator.

Facebook said Friday it has not taken any action on the page, which had attracted more than 100,000 users and encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, purportedly in support of freedom of speech.

Most Muslims regard any depiction of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

Najibullah Malik, the secretary at Pakistan's information technology ministry, said earlier Friday that the government had no option but to shut down Facebook on Wednesday after a court order to do so.

"We know some people are suffering because of this blockade, but we have to obey the court order in letter and spirit," Malik said.

Pakistan said it would consider restoring Facebook and other sites with related content only if they took down pages considered offensive to Islam.

There was no immediate word on whether the government was lifting the ban.

The Facebook page, called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!," had declared Thursday as the day to draw Mohammed, so it was possible the creator took it down Friday because the page had served its purpose.

Other sites have also been affected in the country as officials scramble to block content related to the Facebook page. Wikipedia's English-language site and the Flickr photo-sharing site were also sporadically unavailable Friday.

It was not the first time depictions of the prophet have angered Muslims. In 2005, cartoons of Muhammad appeared in a Danish newspaper, sparking protests and riots from Muslims around the world, including in Pakistan, where the protests turned violent.

There have been several rallies against Facebook in recent days.

Others — mostly members of the more secular, educated elite — accused the government of blocking freedom of expression and hurting small businesses that use Facebook for marketing. Many questioned need for the entire Facebook and YouTube sites to be blocked, instead of individual pages.

___

AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this story.

Another one started up and there have been pages deleted by facebook.
There are also extra profiles set aside in case one gets pulled.
Google, draw picture of mohammed.
Or, I can email the profile to you.

facebook, although it has become extremely popular,, is but ONE internet site amongst millions in the USA,,,,,,if they want to ban one site,, who really cares,,,,,its their right to do so....and doesnt really have much affect beyond their own lives,,,

Religious tolerance is extremely important as is separation of church and state. It is unconscionable that anyone should be targeted for assassination because of a cartoon, film, artwork or book.

yes, that is not acceptable,,,death because of opposing views

The sites on fb are collecting and saving the death threats they get.
If you participate and get threats, submit the threats to the FBI and local police.

please tell me where you get your info on Islam. Quoting Bukhari is like quoting Pat Roberts when referring to the joke that is Chistianity. Bukhari hadiths are nothing more than a collection of quotes that was supposed to have been said by somebody, it's not an official text and only 20 percent of the Islamic schools of thoughts endorse this book. You and your fans adamantly fail.

'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.' ~Barack Hussein Obama~

Recon that will keep him from decapitation.

Me, I will renounce that cult of Satan.