Siasat.PK, a political forum, has been shut down by the government according to an update posted on the Facebook page of the website.
Siasat.PK admins said that they were not warned of anything prior to the taking down of the website and a notice was received from the hosting company through an email according to which hosting company was asked to shut down the website immediately.
Siasat.PK said that Nexus, an Islamabad based hosting company that is registart for siasat.pk, has been asked to take the website offline and that their DNS records have been removed after which website is not accessible for anyone.
This is the grab of the email that siasat.pk received from its hosting company:
Previously government used to ban the IP address through ISPs to block a website, however, in this situation when website is hosted in Pakistan, they have taken it down altogether.
Adeel, who manages Siasat.PK, tweeted this a while ago:
siasat.pk is down is because our name servers were suspiciously removed from Nexus.pk – Just spoke to them and they have no idea who did it
— Adeel Habib (@adeel786) September 11, 2015
Update:
We have checked with PTA, the body that governs internet and websites and any blockade or shut down orders are supposed to be issued by them, said that no such action has been taken by the authority.
On other hands, FIA is saying that any such orders are issued by PTA.
We are trying to reach out to more authorities and sources to find out the reason for the shut down.
Update 2
Adeel, who manages and maintains Siasat.PK, had revealed the threats he had received from higher authorities. In a forum post he mentioned that authorities have threatened him about shutting down the website with-in five minutes.
Check below the forum post from Adeel from April 2015:
Update 3
IÂ just spoke with Adeel and he’s clueless about what has happened or who has ordered the shut down. Adeel had bought this .PK domain from Nexus, and they have removed the DNS without clarifying anything to him and control to his account with nexus has been revoked.
Adeel told me that there hadn’t been any threats or issues from the government or from anyone during past couple of months and this forced shut down came to him as a surprise.
Adeel says that he has web-server hosted somewhere else (and not with nexus) and they are trying to bring the website back with siasat.net as a temporary solution for time being.
This is a developing story and will be updated as we get more information.
Update 4
Siasat.PK is back online through another domain Siasat.net. This is a back-up domain that is registered outside country and seemingly government won’t be able to take it down.
This is a temporary solution that Siasat.PK has adopted for time being, however, after several hours of shut-down there’s no clear evidence available on who directed the shut down of Siasat.PK and for what reasons.
This whole episode raises several serious questions, not only about internet censorship but also on the reliability of .PK domains and how government wants to govern the .PK registry.
We have already received countless queries from worried webmasters running on .PK registry demanding an immediate resolution of the situation.
Setup down or step down?
Any comment on matter or are you spell checker?
I’ll choose, spell checker :P
Bravo! Give this man a medal!!
You made this thread upon my informing? @aamir7
Yes, thank you for the tip.
my pleasure.
Amir , can I have your contact number ? need to speak more on this.
Thanks,
inbox me at fb.me/insaf.shaheen or twitter inbox
Looks like somebody defaced Nawaz badly on those forums . else they dont give a **** about these sites.
they really did, i am a member of siasat.pk and i too participated :-p .
That forum had 100s of thousands of members, mostly supported PTI, there were paid PMLn staff as well, this ban is politically motivated.
Yeah exactly.
They should rename it dictatorship.pk as only thing pmln practice and tolerate is dictatorship.
you guys are so funny
Lol. You should behave, else Propakistani.pk would be banned next!
and we always said this going to happen dont worry soon facebook twitter which is trending today with (#ReasonsWhyPMLNisCorrupt ) will be banned , this N league has not temperament :) “Jamhooriyat”
wow now govt is going to ban websites too, so much for freedom of speech.
Was able to browser the website through proxy. Looks like the site is only banned for Pakistan users.
host it in Switzerland :P …
its .pk domain problem, not hosting issue
I am doing hosting from 2007 Stay away from nexus
Accesible through proxy server so it is banned for only pakistan
https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/12011218_1147553868592930_7921642902323964435_n.jpg?oh=8ad845dfdd09b1eeafb241571c8ab887&oe=566C8E97
it is going to get down as the DNS entries are propagated across the globe.
right, it is just a matter of hours to update dns entry on whole web
finally, someone replied correctly. :)
after the propagation process site will no longer be accessible join it through other domains mentioned above
Aamir Atta my comment wasn’t approved by You.
Instead of deleting or not approving my comments. Don’t you have guts to simply say that you don’t want anything against you . So I can easily leave the forum ?
Don’t tell me what’s wrong with my comment, I can read everyone’s comment here plus we both know the reason.
Also not open in UAE.
Lately, there was too much bashing of PMLN on siasat.pk. Especially on Nandipur project. They constantly shared clips exposing pmln corruption stories and it was certainly making an impact and siasat.pk has to pay for what they did to the Gov’t in power
there are many clips about ik and pti uturns also
So are the orders from GANJA or Bekaarcracy
Why not choose an offshore hosting company like all the piraters and hackers?
well first of all adeel has to seek political asylum somewhere else with family :-p
yes, that’s the next step exactly. they won’t spare him. he should get help from social media to launch campaigns for building pressure.
Well mostly it works in Pakistan, lets wish him good luck and we are with him :)
offshore hosting is not the solution. the problem is with .pk and .com.pk domains. govt has direct access to ban these domains easily. although they can still ban any other domain through PTA, just like they did with youtube.
Being an active member of that forum I am saddened by this move. Siasat.pk has contributed significantly in heightening the political grooming in online communities of Pakistan. Just another sick step by PML N Govt.
#Go nawaz go
PATWARI LEAGUE BEHIND IT…..IF SOME ONE CRITICIZE THEM ….THEY DESTROY THEM OR KILLED
i just want to say one thing, Pakistan’s future is bright IN SHAA ALLAH, everything will be fine.
This is a big threat to all those who have invested in .pk this puts a big question mark to freedom of speech and future of Pakistan IT space. Being owner of a lot of .pk domains, this really worries me.
jis ki laathi uski bhains. don’t worry, let the time come . everything will be fine IN SHAA ALLAH.
never host such a website on a .PK domain..
Kabhi bhi dhoka ho sakta hai :p
yes, any extension is preferable other than .pk and .com.pk, specially for politics/news websites.
Azaaadiii e Raaaaye ka HAQ bhii Chhheeen lo gayy ab #Ganjay #Noorooo ????
#GoNawazGo
Time to move your domains from .PK registry. How easy it is to shutdown a .PK website without any prosecution or court order.
Lesson learned: If you’re running a political blog in Pakistan, register your businesses abroad (domain, hosting, billing/administrator address) and stay anonymous. Also avoid registering your .com/.net domains through local registrars, otherwise you can be hit badly by the evil politicians. It’s very sad political bloggers are easiest target for our government.
but its still easier for the govt to ban any other domains too. they just have to forward the domain name to PTA and PTA will enter that particular domain in block list of ISPs.
Where’s Dr. Aamir Liaquat to defend his masters? Anxiously waiting for him.
You guys can still use the website from following url
siasat.net
There is another, but seems not working ATM.
siasat.org
sorry for off topic, did anyone notice this annoying advertisement of smart tv app on every non SSL page? or ir is just me? i am using PEEEETCL EVO
its just you. Send screenshot pls.
Yes. This stupid smart tv app ad is popping up on PTCL Evo connections. I too have seen it several times during past few days.
this is the code they append on every pags’s html before
×
and this is url to annoying image http://182.190.0.51/portal/smartTVAppAd.jpeg
Yes, experienced this too…its kind of spamming by PTCL on evo devices
yes, ptcl is trying to forcefully sale their smart tv product.
Because they can’t afford advertisement :D
The problem is that even if you have the Smart TV App, you still get the advertisements ……
Yes I am getting this zabardasti advertisement too.
We are ruled by imbeciles, the most retarded idiots. They make policies which make no sense.
.net or any other domain extension won’t work. They can easily block their site again.
yes, they can order PTA to pass instructions to all ISPs to ban entire domain, just like youtube or other sites.
Good work done by FIA or somebody else who did it
These websites are continuously defaming government.
no, there is an extreme need of such websites for highlighting political issues like corruption etc. every one has the right to speak about what’s happening wrong.
please correct registart to registrar. :-)
i suggest you to use “ginger” before publishing the final article. it wipes out spelling and grammar mistakes.
Isko Kehty hein Democracy
You can join this forum for political discussion http://www.siyasat.pk/
Nakal ka leya b Akal ki zarorat hoti ha.
ANGELS WITH BOOTS! ke baaray main to nae chhap diya koi thread… :) Now you know what happens when BOYS are angry with you.. :D
Anyone can tell me how to avoid this situation or any suggestion that made .pk domain safe from Pak authorities to shut down
Or maybe just another publicity stunt?
we really condemn that pakistani govt shut down the political web site, there is not freedom of speech in pakistan. but people have many ways to express their ideas faceboo, twitter, siyasat.pk etc
Propak… Youre also .pk right? …. Aqal mand k liye ishara hi kafi he :P
Stay away from nexus one of the stupid company in Pakistan
Also pknic registry are very unprofessional and they do not know how to handle job
i would advice not to buy any domain/hosting from any Pakistani company, they are the worst in support and best at running away when there is even a little pressure, because they are all re-sellers they do not have anything of their own.
Never used the website, heck I never trust a link that refers me to siasat, but taking down a site without due corse if law is outrageous!
This is exactly what I was talking about when the Axact saga was hot, we need to make sure that the authorities use proper laws to take an action, this makes the govt look like a mafia, takimg down whatever. These kind of efforts need to be resisted!
Its running at http://www.siasat.net
just a poor ploy for marketing by the siasat.pk owner… also, I must say that nexus is a poor choice as a host, and .pk must be bought directly from http://www.pknic.net.pk as I’ve myself noticed that I once checked a few available domains, and next time I checked, the nexus itself had registered those, so probably they keep an eye for searches also. highly unethical.
I think this is Freedom of Talk and Expression of our dictator
democracy, well the best option is for you move your forum to offshore
hosting and offshore domain.
Best of luck