Pakistan Blocks Blogs

This is a developing story. But it seems the Pakistani authorities have entered the age of Web 2.0:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4771846.stm

and for those who can read Urdu:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/interactivity/blog/story/2006/03/060303_reba_blogspot.shtml
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/ws/thread.jspa?threadID=632
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/interactivity/quotes/story/2006/03/060303_nouman_blogspot.shtml

By way of background, folks might have been following my own efforts at covering and discussing the very robust blogosphere developing in Pakistan:

http://spider.tm/jul2005/cstory2.html
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/05/urdu-blossoming-on-internet.html
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/07/is-urdu-ready-for-information.html
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/09/urdu-technical-blog.html
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/09/installing-urdu-on-windows-xp.html
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/02/photoblogging-cartoon-protests-in.html

I am in touch with bloggers in Pakistan and let's see what those of us not behind the firewalls around Pakistan can do to help. Ironically, Pakistna Televsion has always quoted something our national poet, (who also wrote India's most popular national hymn, by the way), said:

sulthani-e-jamhoor ka athaa hai zamaana
joe naqsh-e-kohan thum koe nazar aayay mita dho!

comes, now, the era of the people's sovereignty
whatever sign of oppression you see, erase it!

Let's see if we can live up to that.

PS: 2:51 pm:

Thanks to Danial (http://danial.pixelsndots.com) for startling me into action on this. See:

BlogSpot Banned in Pakistan: http://danial.pixelsndots.com/archives/380
Pakistan Bans BlogSpot - Hysterical Censorship: http://danial.pixelsndots.com/archives/381

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Bloggin - Free Speech