Mush says no to blogs

In yet another desperate attempt to muzzle freedom of expression in Pakistan, the Musharraf regime has reportedly blocked hundreds of anti-establishment blogs. It is an age old ploy adopted by dictators all over the world to control the flow of information and restrict one the basic human right i.e. freedom of speech.

The Pakistan President has banned hundreds of anti-Musharraf blogsites that had mushroomed. The move has irked hundreds of bloggers and the Pakistani youth as they feel that his actions are directly targetted at the student movement, which is using the blog medium to slowly mobilise public opinion.

The ban on blogs comes two weeks after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf passed a new law that makes cyber terrorism, among other online crimes, punishable with nothing less than death or life in prison.

The internet and access to website has already been restricted. This for many civil society organisation is a draconian law, which is trying to restrict freedom of expression in the country that has already been under pressure because of long years of Military rule.

But the new media blogs cut across old barriers giving the world a blow by blow account of the simmering turmoil in Pakistan.

And as Pakistan takes tentative steps towards democracy, the blog ban is an indication that in Pakistan the more things change, the more they remain the same.