[governance] Pakistan: PTA blocks website against its own chief

Mon Sep 3 15:15:16 EDT 2012

Hi Sala,

You're spot on about suing constitutional rights to fight back. We along
with other civil society members filed a constitutional petition for
fundamental rights online and were able to get a stay order on ad hoc
blocking by the PTA,
see here:
http://bolobhi.org/press-release-public-statements/press-releases/constitutional-petition-accepted-for-fundamental-rights-online/

Also your point about other organizations teaming up is spot on, again.

We issued a joint statement with ten global organizations working on
freedom of expression and their support helped a great deal:
http://bolobhi.org/press-release-public-statements/press-releases/global-coalition-of-ngos-call-for-official-withdrawal-of-censorship-plans/

Important to note that all ad hoc blocking since after the stay order is
contempt of court, and we are already working on following up and
challenging it in Sindh, Islamabad and Lahore High Court with our Partner
organization Subh-e-Nau.
Meanwhile all these directives are being collected as proof, you can find
e-legislation timeline since 2006 here:
http://bolobhi.org/resources/state-of-internet-in-pakistan-e-regulations-timeline/

Best and thank you for your support for freedom of expression and internet
freedom in Pakistan.

Best,
Sana

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Director, Bolo Bhi, Advocacy-Policy-Research [http://bolobhi.org]
Blogger: Dawn.com [http://blog.dawn.com/author/sana-saleem/]
Global Voices: [http://globalvoicesonline.org/author/sana-saleem/]
The Guardian:[ www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sana-saleem]
Blog: http://sanasaleem.com] Twitter: @sanasaleem<
http://twitter.com/sanasaleem>
 @bolobhi  <http://bolobhi.org/>

On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 11:41 PM, Shahzad Ahmad <shahzad at bytesforall.pk>wrote:

> That may not work Sala for several reasons,
>
> Constitutional provisions are marred with several vague definitions and
> qualifications ;)
>
> But yes we are consulting with our partners and will get back with
> updates.
>
> Best wishes and regards
> Shahzad
>
>
>  From: "Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro" <
> salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: <governance at lists.igcaucus.org>, "Salanieta T.
> Tamanikaiwaimaro" <salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com>
> Date: Monday, September 3, 2012 11:30 PM
>
> To: <governance at lists.igcaucus.org>, Shahzad Ahmad <shahzad at bytesforall.pk
> >
> Subject: Re: [governance] Pakistan: PTA blocks website against its own
> chief
>
> Dear Shahzad,
>
> If your Constitution has certain civil liberties enshrined in it. Why
> don't you consider constitutional redress and you can suss out if people
> and organisations are keen to support you in sending in amicus briefs with
> appropriate case authorities for the matter once it is in motion.
>
> Kind Regards,
> Sala
>
> On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 4:39 AM, Shahzad Ahmad <shahzad at bytesforall.pk>wrote:
>
>> Folks,
>>
>> This is one classic example that how PTA will use different reasons and
>> excuses to filter the Internet to curb citizens voices and that may
>> eventually include political discourse.
>>
>> http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/latest-news/56863
>>
>> Best wishes and regards
>>
>> Shahzad
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Shahzad Ahmad <shahzad at bytesforall.pk>
>> Reply-To: <governance at lists.igcaucus.org>, Shahzad Ahmad <
>> shahzad at bytesforall.pk>
>> Date: Monday, September 3, 2012 12:47 PM
>> To: "governance at lists.igcaucus.org" <governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
>> Subject: [governance] New policy directive for Internet Filtering in
>> Pakistan
>>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>> More bad news coming out from Pakistan… so seemingly much talked about
>> Internet filtering system effectively gets an implementation through this
>> policy directive.
>>
>>
>> http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-17209-Govt-orders-blocking-of-all--blasphemous-pornographic-material-on-net
>>
>> Best wishes
>> Shahzad
>> www.bytesforall.pk
>> *
>> *
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>
>
> --
> Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
> P.O. Box 17862
> Suva
> Fiji
>
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