NA Resolution for Opening YouTube is Nothing More than Aerial Firing

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National Assembly yesterday passed a resolution for opening up the access of YouTube in Pakistan, however, this will not change any thing in the country except making to the headlines of the newspapers.

In reality, for all those readers who have asked us, National Assembly’s resolutions bear no legal standings or weightage. It is just the symbolic representation of thoughts of the elected leaders.

National Assembly’s resolutions stand without any constitutional value.

On other hands, the decision for banning or opening up of YouTube will never be relied on any such resolution that is passed by National Assembly.

Just in case if you don’t remember, our National Assembly had once passed a resolution that Drone attacks won’t be allowed on the soil of Pakistan. We are not going into political or foreign policy discussion of why drone attacks are still allowed but the mention was just to hint you that NA resolutions are nothing more than just aerial firing.

Just for the records, YouTube was banned in Pakistan on the orders of Supreme Court.

Supreme Court, in its order on September 17th, 2012, had directed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block the access of blasphemous content available on YouTube to the people in Pakistan. PTA, which hadn’t the capability of blocking selected videos/content, blocked the entire website instead.

Yes, Raja Parvez Ashraf, then Prime Minister of Pakistan, had ordered the blockade of website through a statement on TV, but again, Mr. Ashraf’s statement had no legal standing and PTA was not liable to obey PM’s orders.

It won’t be technically and legally incorrect If we say that PTA primarily obeyed Supreme Court’s orders for blocking the access of blasphemous material on YouTube.

For those who are wondering, only two things can open YouTube:

  1. A supreme Court order to reverse its earlier order
  2. A way (software/procedure) to block selected videos/content from YouTube

Option number 1 is just not possible.

If you are curious, option number 2 isn’t possible either without Google’s role. Because Google has this technology that can detect the content of the video and is capable of blocking one video and all of its copies with-in a geographical location.

PTA or any third-party solution just can’t do that. Just because there are thousands of copies available of this one blasphemous video and many more can be added each passing minute. Blocking them all is simply impossible.

Since Google has denied to help Pakistani government in blocking the video with-in Pakistani territory, hence option number 2 is impossible as well.

While on other hands, just to mention, Google had conveniently blocked the blasphemous video in various countries, including India, Syria, Malaysia, Egypt, Singapore and others.

But Google won’t block the video in Pakistan, just because of incompetent government that couldn’t convince Google or maybe because government didn’t ask Google properly because No YouTube is a lot better, politically.

Also the Internet Activists are somewhat involved in keeping YouTube still banned in Pakistan, just because their efforts are misdirected.

Instead of putting pressure on Google for getting the Video blocked in a country where display of blasphemous content is illegal, these so called activists are always busy in cursing the Government that did nothing but reaped the pat for someone else’s doings.

I hope it is now easy for you to understand that who is culprit behind the YouTube ban and also that how YouTube can be unbanned in Pakistan.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Aamir thumbs up for brilliantly putting the story of two years of youtube ban in simplest possible words

  • Aamir I don’t agree with you on one thing where you said NA resolution have no standings as the order was from supreme court. As far as I know the supreme court just uses the law to decide on cases but NA however is the lawmaker body.

    So if NA says youtube to be opened, than by the book supreme court can’t decide against it. But also I guess to become implementable, law also needs to be passed from senate as well. So lets see what happens there. I guess this is again a stunt by gov to look busy, so people think they are doing something. I honestly don’t expect much from it, more of the chance is it will be rejected by senate. But obviously the time will tell.

    • But that wasn’t an amendment to the Law by any means. Its just a simple resolution which they Discussed and agreed upon on a reasonable conclusion to it. So that’s just that.

    • Sir, what you are referring to is called, bill. With bill, they amend the constitution which can’t be challenged even by the supreme court.

      Resolution isn’t anything near to the bill.

  • Can PTA do content filtering ? or filter UPLink only in order to restrict particular content on youtube

  • You said:

    —post—
    Also the Internet Activists are somewhat involved in keeping YouTube still banned in Pakistan, just because their efforts are misdirected.

    Instead of putting pressure on Google for getting the Video blocked in a country where display of blasphemous content is illegal, these so called activists are always busy in cursing the Government that did nothing but reaped the pat for someone else’s doings.
    —post—

    Two words for you: YELLOW JOURNALISM. The above is so wrong I am having trouble figuring out if you deliberately wrote the wrong thing or if you are horribly confused.

    Point #1: You hate internet activists. That is your right, however misguided you may be. but you should make it clear and open. Point #2: The activists have no way to put pressure on Google. If our government cannot pressurise Google, then how can the activists? Is Google an entity that has offices and public relationship in Pakistan? Point #3: The activists are working THROUGH THE PAKISTANI SYSTEM to get it unblocked, using all the LEGAL OPTIONS given to us by the constitution of Pakistan. Understand this. They are not doing anything dictatorial. They are not doing anything illegal like blocking Motorway for hours. They are not hacking the supreme court’s website or PTA’s website. They are WORKING WITH THE SYSTEM AS IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE. Point #4: The GOVERNMENT has LIED OR TOLD HALF-TRUTHS TO THE COURTS AND THE PUBLIC regarding Youtube block. REPEATEDLY. Maybe you have not posted stories about that on your own so called blog, but anyone doing any research or reading news about the case or visited court during the open hearings in LHC knows this for a fact. Why you chose to ignore reality is your mental bias.

    And it is your bias that makes this story yellow journalism.

    Lastly, I would like to close with a screenshot. imgur .com/w9Deybc

    100% of that applies to Youtube and Google. But someone’s “bias” is preventing them from accepting the reality.

  • youtube band hai to mout nhe ho gae kisi ki.. band e rhy acha hai.

    • If you don’t like its contents, don’t visit the site. Simple as that.

      I bet you don’t like cooking magazines. Do you go to every bookstore and complain that they have cooking magazines? No — you simply don’t care.

      From the beginning of Islam to today there has probably never been a single day when someone didn’t like it. So what?

      • Hello brother please help!

        I was using Hotspot Shield for long time and it was working fine, and now for 2 or 3 days it has just stop working actually i can visit Youtube and watch videos but i can’t signin, Which is really annoying.

        Sometime i Remove “s” from https and then i can signin but it doesn’t work everytime.

        Any Help will be appreciated. Thanks!

  • Ban of you tube has got nothing to do with the blasphemous material. When will you (read: idiots) realize this. Any sane (or even insane) person knows that this any such material can be accessed from countless other sites. Youtube however is the most popular and also most fast video browsing platform available. Banning this by the government is just one way to control the media. That is the real reason behind this ban.

    • How banning YT helps in controlling media, would you please elaborate brother. Thanks!

      • When all your “content” comes from government approved providers (like PEMRA) then the government can tell news publishers like TV stations and newspapers to not publish something. They can force news sites to avoid some stories, like these day Baloch issues like Baloch Long March things like that. They can control what everyone hears and sees and they can MANIPULATE it.

        But with Youtube, government cannot stop you from recording a video of a protest or something and then uploading it to your channel on Youtube. They are powerless against citizen journalism.

        So they shut it down and keep it shut down making excuses/lies about filters and threats to Google and stuffs like that.

    • I bet you from PTI, because government did not block the site, its orders of court, and someone from you went to court and made content block according to law.

      • What does PTI have to do with anything? Seriously…even after you read about PPP and PML-N people in Senate and Assembly moving resolutions in favour of opening youtube, you bring PTI into it. Wow.

        • No no, actually everywhere on internet the members of PTI just say that government is responsible.
          In some posts I saw comments that this nawaz sharif is doing this and this and trust me nawaz has nothing to do with it.
          here i saw that government which is nawaz sharif’s now , wants to control media.
          whenever I saw something like that I believe he/she must be a PTI supporter.
          they blame government without even reading and I saw this so many times.

  • Only one good thing in this Article is atleast people now stop blaming the government in this issue. Usually we blame everything on government.
    In supreme court or High court, anyone can go and ask the court to block this and this.
    Even if the supreme court orders to unblock youtube, still people go and block the website. Aamir has ignored the religious factor in it which playing important role, btw religious factor does not include any Diesel Person or others like him.

    Aamir you just blame the our side only, I think you know very well about the taxation of Google in Pakistan, which google does not want to pay but paying in India and many many other countries. I think you also know the earning of google from pakistan. You did not mention why google does not want to open their office in pakistan. to avoid legal obligations ???
    Dont blame to our government only, give facts from both sides.

    @shahidsaleem:disqus, you say that if I dont want to watch any video I can simply avoid it, or your view is government and courts have no rights to block something for you ??
    why dont you go to supreme court and ask them about the blockage of youtube.
    you know many people say this to me

    “bhai meri marzi ha main jo dekhun, gunah to muje he mile ga to inko kia hai jo block kiya hai”
    my answer to them is please go to the shria court and change the law and amend the constitution and your problem will be resolved.

    • As far as me going to Supreme Court is concerned, the activists that admin casts aspersions on ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO Lahore High Court. Believe me, of LHC decision has no bearing on Supreme Court decision, then why would LHC even bother to waste ONE WHOLE YEAR on hearings on this case?

      As far as changing law or whatever crap you think, THERE IS ZERO TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION TO BLOCKING BLASPHEMY ON THE INTERNET. ZERO. NO. DOES NOT EXIST. PTA AND OTHERS HAS ADMITTED THIS AFTER LYING FOR OVER A YEAR ABOUT FILTERS.

      Although our Minister refuses to go before LHC court and say this. She has been ignoring court summons for two months now. She is afraid of losing face.

      next issue:

      Do you know what personal responsibility is?

      Do you steal from a shop when no one is watching? You can! But do you? Do you visit whores in your bad part of town? You can! But do you? Do you buy liquor and drink it? You can! But do you?

      If the answer to the above is “no” then simply your answer to

      Do you watch videos that spread bad impression of Islam?

      Should also be “no”. Is it? If it is, congratulations! You don’t need the government telling you what to look at and what not to look at.

      Remember story a few weeks ago ON THIS VERY SITE that not only is the government filtering but also WATCHING TRAFFIC. RECORDING YOUR WEB TRAFFIC. Sure you might say “but I am not doing anything wrong or illegal”, well I ask you, why do you have walls around your house? Why do you have curtains in your windows? Is it because you are doing something illegal? Or just because you understand what “privacy” means?

      When you invite the government to filter sites, you invite them to watch your traffic. Goodbye privacy. So yes I am against government filtering.

      • Shahid, what you think or say is just a debate, you can win a debate but this won’t helpful or have no practical implications.
        I understand and agree with you to some extent, but when it comes to law, constitution, rights, responsibilities etc, things change or not remains as a matter of opinions.
        what my point is, why the understanding between pakistan and google still at the beginning after long discussions and problem is still there.
        your opinion is just an opinion, in real world its meaningless and you know this very well.
        be a realistic than materialistic person.
        Do you have any solution to this matter ??
        rather saying just unblock the content by giving these arguments which won’t be accepted anywhere.
        btw i can access youtube coz dont live in pakistan right now and all those videos are open and yeah I dont want to see the content obviously

        • Dear fake person, what you think or say is also just a debate. But your points have all been demolished publicly in LHC hearings, not just by the activists that admin hates but also by admitted statements from PTA. Maybe you should wake up and smell the coffee.

          In real world all that matters is result of hearing, and so far my viewpoint (which you say is meaningless) is WINNING THE ARGUMENT. You’re on the wrong side of the fence.

          Please stop asking me for solution when it is right in your face. The ONLY solution is personal responsilbility and not watching such videos. THERE IS NO TECHNICAL SOLUTION. NONE. ONCE AGAIN: PTA HAS ADMITTED THIS. NO TECHNICAL SOLUTION WHATSOEVER.

          Reminder: only Pakistan is Muslim country to keep it blocked for that video. All others have it open or have other reasons for block (elections in Iran, stupid GOVERNMENT corruption in Turkey, etc etc).

          • you know what, personal responsibility leads to where ?
            let me tell you
            personal responsibility to avoid something or not
            people at google are idiot by providing such facilities to block content in such country
            no technical solution available to stop anything on internet
            its duty of us to avoid or not to avoid
            we dont need any government, laws and punishments
            peoples responsibility, to do what they like and avoid what they dont
            no body need any institutions to built or provide services
            peoples responsibility to build and provide services by realizing their needs.
            every society can build everything rather giving taxes to government so they do something for them
            and list goes on…
            and in the end you will say, i dont need any prophet or any book to guide me, its my responsibility, your prophets can’t stop me from doing wrong things or your God..this is also true

  • the content suggested by the site is based on your interests by the way.
    maybe at different time when you alone search something on dailymotion
    but trust me its totally based on your interests and generate by the automated system

  • Countless Ahmadiya communities sites and Baluchistan Liberation Army sites are blocked too. So, in my opinion this ban has nothing to do with the blasphemous video on YouTube. It just gave a reason to our military which is literally ruling over the 67 years in Pakistan has now good control over the censorship in every medium just like the middle eastern countries.

  • Believe it or not, 7 out of 10 times, Youtube was used to access for entertainment purposes in Pakistan. The rest were used to access for a mix of other different infotainment, religious, educational purposes etc. So, what is the need of opening an entertainment website (demon-cratically speaking) in Pakistan when the entire nation is already busy in doing nothing useful and productive except bloody entertainment all the time. There r many other sites……….make your way…….don’t beat about the bush…………I m against opening it (u may agree/disagree). But we’ll have to think about how much a thing is useful. If a child feels happy by holding a gun in hand, then we can’t and shouldn’t simply make him happy. He is better of weeping. I did a survey myself in my MBA ( Research Methods-STA630- VU) about the activities for which the guys (girls, boys) use Youtube mostly. Well, it will be surprising to know that majority (85 people of a total of 110) were using it for entertainment purposes……..Past PTV Dramas, Chacha Boota, Mr. Chips, Shakira, Britney, Sad Kumar Sanu Songs, Celebrity Clips to name a few and other things you are well aware of specially us boys…………Hope if it opens, there will be a moral code……..because everything entertaining is not worth for everyone’s entertainment………….huh! longggg………


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