PTA

Islamabad, August 15, 2012: It is very unfortunate to note that the 66th Independence Day of Pakistan was not any different for citizens in Balochistan than the Pakistan Day on 23 March 2012. Their digital communication channels were blocked by the government and yet again in the name of “national security” and “upholding law and order”.

On behalf of all concerned citizens of Pakistan, Bytes for All have sent an Open Letter to His Excellency Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan on the issue of content filtering and SMS ban directive by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). We are very hopeful that the Prime Minister will himself look into this matter for redressal of grievances as raised in this letter. The contents of this letter are pasted below.

Honourable Sir,

The best advice anyone can give to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) is to stick to the task of making information and communication technologies friendly and accessible to the people of Pakistan, instead of spending their resources on the enforcement of right-wing self-righteous ideologies.

Pakistan’s e-governance setup has a severely tainted history, which clearly reflects as inefficient governance structures on the ground. While PTA should be protecting users’ rights online, it has indulged itself in senseless ideological warfare on the Internet.