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[Pakistan] Access to news website blocked?
Dawn, 31 May 2003
Access to news website blocked?
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 30: A Washington-based news website - South Asia Tribune
- has claimed that the government has blocked access to its URL.
A press statement issued by the Tribune on Friday said Internet
access to their website, www.satribune.com, "has been blocked" by
Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE), the Internet backbone provider for
Pakistan. But Federal Minister for Information Technology and
Telecommunication Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari expressed his ignorance
about the development when asked to comment about the alleged denial
of access to the website.
"I am not aware whether the website has been blocked or not," he
observed but assured that his ministry had no authority to block any
website. Similarly, when Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid
was asked to comment on report that the site had been blocked on the
direction of the government, he said the allegation had no truth in
it.
"We are neither interested nor do we know how to block Internet
websites," the information minister said. Secretary Information Anwar
Mahmood said the ministry had nothing to do with the blocking of the
news website, arguing that if the government was interested in
blocking site, then it could have done so six months earlier.
The Tribune alleged that internet service providers (ISPs) which
offer connectivity through International Private Leased circuits have
been asked by high-ranking government officials to block access to
www.satribune.com.
In October last year, PIE placed a ban on Internet telephony or voice
chat websites. PIE, which is a subsidiary of the Pakistan
Telecommunication Company, has been blocking sites offering
pornographic and 'other objectionable' content since Jan 2003. PIE
was established last year to offer a single point of access for local
ISPs.
source: http://www.dawn.com/2003/05/31/top11.htm
