Category Archives: China

Facebook unbanned – access restored in Pakistan

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Today Facebook access was restored in Pakistan by the Pakistan Telecommunication authority.

According to Geo news:

A Pakistani court on Monday ordered authorities to restore access to Facebook, nearly two weeks after the popular social networking website was blocked nationwide in a row over blasphemy.

Justice Ejaz Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court issued the directive, reversing a May 19 order on the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to block Facebook over “blasphemous” drawings of Prophet Mohammed on the website.

“Restore Facebook. We don’t want to block access to information,” Chaudhry told the court.

A contest organised by a Facebook user calling on people to draw the Prophet Mohammed to promote “freedom of expression” sparked a major backlash in the conservative Muslim country of 170 million.

Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and even moderate Muslims were deeply offended by the drawings that appeared on a Facebook page in an answer to the call for an “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day”.

A group of Islamic lawyers petitioned the Lahore court, which had ordered Facebook blocked until May 31 and the PTA then banned YouTube and restricted access to other websites, including Wikipedia.

Chaudhry on Monday asked the government to develop a system to block access to “blasphemous” content on the Internet, which he said was already in place in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“It is the government’s job to take care of such things, which spark resentment among the people and bring them onto the streets. They should take steps to block any blasphemous content on the Internet,” Chaudhry said.

The court Monday adjourned until June 15 the petitions from the Islamic lawyers.

Mudassir Hussain, an official from the information technology ministry, told the court that all links to “blasphemous” content on the Internet would remain blocked in Pakistan.

Although it would be relief for some people, i still think, was it needed to be restored for the progress of nation? (China still have it blocked btw)

Silk route between Pakistan and China closed – trade affected badly

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As a result of the massive landslide along side Hunza river on 4th January, which killed 20 people in remote Himalayan region. Almost 25,000 people are affected and cut off. people took every thing they could carry including doors and windows of their homes while leaving their villages in Hunza valley due to the lake threatening to flood dozens of villages. The water from lake has already submerged parts of Gulmit which was a tourist resort on the main korakoram highway between Pakistan and China. The highway has already been closed affecting the trade between two countries very badly. According to official news almost 1,700 people has already left their homes after flood swept through Ayeenabad and Shishkat villages in the Hunza district.

The president of the Gilgit chamber of commerce, Pakistan, Javed Hussain said that they have suffered a loss of more than 500 billion rupees since january.He said that the trade convoys arriving to the border town of Sust are sent to another town, Hussaini, where they are loaded on the boats to cross the lake. Then the private loaders put thecargo on jeeps to take it to Gilgit.

Probably this loss would not be recovered because the government of Pakistan has maybe more important things to solve than to establish any alternate trade route and will be sacrificing this loss for their big gains.

The silk route has been a trade route between Pakistan and China for decades. Wondering why not such a profitable route was ever maintained or enhanced / alternated in all these decades by any of the so called rulers of Pakistan!

The Silk road is a series and network of trade and cultural transmission routes that connected East and West by linking China to the Mediterranean sea during various periods of time.