The news of blocking six URLs in Pakistan has been confirmed by various quarters including the Convener of Internet Service Providers Association (ISPAK) of Pakistan.
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), the regulatory authority of Pakistan’s Internet issued the orders for blocking these websites, as the content ported on these links was badly exposing Admiral Afzal Tahir, Pakistan’s Naval Chief as the land grabber and how he had been misusing his power. Admiral didn’t like the clip and wanted this removed from Pakistani cyberspace. Please also note that the Admiral is a buddy of President Musharraf. You may like to know more about this saga at the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5O2bsptbGY
or
http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=n5O2bsptbGY&search_type=&aq=-...
High handedness of security agencies and military is not new in the country and people of Pakistan continue to face such situations very oftenly. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
At least for once, PTA didn’t hide behind “blasphemous content” while blocking these websites.
We have informed about the situation to larger ICT community in the country and efforts are being made to rectify this situation. We consider this blocking by PTA as it is helping the Naval Chief in his endeavour to grab land and further misuse his powers.
Thought this information will be of interest to you. People working on issues like freedom of expression would also like to know about it.
Thanks and best wishes
Shahzad