Censorship in South Asia: Difference between revisions

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Censorship in South Asia can apply to books, movies, the Internet and other media. Censorship occurs on religious, moral and political grounds, which is controversial in itself as the latter especially is seen as contrary to the tenets of democracy, in terms of freedom of speech and the right to freely criticise the government.

Censorship by country

Bangladesh

In June 2006, the government of Bangladesh issued a restraining order preventing Sigma Huda, U.N. special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, from leaving the country to deliver a key report on trafficking before the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 11 June 2007.^{[citation needed]} The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, 2007, asked Bangladesh to clarify corruption charges against a U.N. human rights investigator, which will prevent her from addressing the main U.N. rights body.^[1]

Selective blocking of web sites for brief periods has been reported, including:

The Bangla blogging platform Sachalayatan during July 2008
YouTube during March 2009^[2]
Facebook in May 2010^[3]^[4]
YouTube again in September 2012 was blocked for refusing to remove the controversial Innocence of Muslims movie trailer^[5]

Later these blocks were removed.^[6]

Several books of the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin have been banned in Bangladesh and West Bengal.^[7]

India

Several books that are critical of religions have been banned in India, or in parts of India, which was stated to be a precautionary measure to prevent riots or other attacks. India was the second country in the world to ban The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. The book Understanding Islam through Hadis by Ram Swarup was also banned.

India is listed as engaged in selective internet filtering in the conflict/security and internet tools areas, and no evidence of filtering was found in the political and social areas by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) in May 2007.^[8] ONI states that:

As a stable democracy with strong protections for press freedom, India’s experiments with [internet] filtering have been brought into the fold of public discourse. The selective censorship of [websites] and blogs since 2003, made even more disjointed by the non-uniform responses of [internet] service providers (ISPs), has inspired a clamor of opposition. Clearly government regulation and implementation of filtering are still evolving. … Amidst widespread speculation in the media and blogosphere about the state of filtering in India, the sites actually blocked indicate that while the filtering system in place yields inconsistent results, it nevertheless continues to be aligned with and driven by government efforts. Government attempts at filtering have not been entirely effective, as blocked content has quickly migrated to other [websites] and users have found ways to circumvent filtering. The government has also been criticized for a poor understanding of the technical feasibility of censorship and for haphazardly choosing which [websites] to block. The amended IT Act, absolving intermediaries from being responsible for third-party created content, could signal stronger government monitoring in the future.^[8]

Pakistan

The OpenNet Initiative listed internet filtering in Pakistan as "substantial" in the social and conflict/security areas, and as "selective" in the internet tools area, and as "suspected" in the political area in December 2010.^[9]

In late 2010 Pakistanis enjoyed unimpeded access to most sexual, political, social, and religious content on the internet. Although the Pakistani government does not employ a sophisticated blocking system, a limitation which has led to collateral blocks on entire domains such as Blogspot.com and YouTube.com, it continues to block websites that contain content that it considers to be blasphemous, anti-Islamic, or threatening to internal security. Pakistan has blocked access to websites that are critical of the government.^[9]

In early March 2006, the government temporarily had all websites hosted at the popular blogging service Blogger.com blocked.^[10] Millions of websites from all over the world are hosted at blogspot, along with thousands of Pakistani ones. This step by the government is possibly due to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, as some blogspot websites put up copies of the cartoons.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is listed as a country "under surveillance" by Reporters Without Borders in 2011.^[11]

Several political and news websites, including tamilnet.com and lankanewsweb.com, have been blocked within the country.^[12] Tamilnet has been producing news about the Sri Lankan civil war, focusing in the north and the east of the country, and is seen by the government as a Pro-LTTE news website. A government spokesman has said that he is looking to hire hackers to disable Tamilnet. ^[13]

The Sri Lanka courts have ordered hundreds of porn sites to be blocked, stating that it is to "protect women and children".^[14] This is no longer true as of 2017.

In February of 2018, Facebook was blocked, as an effort to prevent racial-hate speech.

In October and November 2011 the Sri Lankan Telecommunication Regulatory Commission blocked the five websites, www.lankaenews.com, srilankamirror.com, srilankaguardian.com, paparacigossip9.com, and www.lankawaynews.com, for what the government alleges as publishing reports that amount to "character assassination and violating individual privacy" and damaging the character of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ministers and senior government officials. The five sites have published material critical of the government and alleged corruption and malfeasance by politicians.^[15]

References

^ "UN rights boss asks Bangladesh about graft charges". Reuters. 7 June 2007. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
^ "ONI Regional Overview: Asia". OpenNet Initiative. June 2009.
^ Rebekah Heacock (1 June 2010). "Pakistan Lifts Facebook Ban; Bangladesh Cracks Down". OpenNet Initiative.
^ "Facebook blocked". The Daily Star. 30 May 2010.
^ "YouTube blocked in Bangladesh". The Daily Star. 17 September 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
^ "Bangladesh Blocks Access to YouTube". OpenNet Initiative. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
^ "Taslima's Banned Books" Archived 2015-01-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
^ ^a ^b "ONI Country Profile: India". OpenNet Initiative. 9 May 2007.
^ ^a ^b "ONI Country Profile: Pakistan". OpenNet Initiative. 26 December 2010.
^ "Blasphemous websites be blocked, orders SC". Dawn. 3 March 2006.
^ "Countries Under Survanence: Sri Lanka". Reporters Without Borders. March 2011. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011.
^ "Popular Tamil website 'blocked'". BBC News. 20 June 2007.
^ "Sri Lanka seeks hackers to down pro-Tiger website". Agence France-Presse (AFP). 20 June 2007. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
^ "Sri Lanka bans over 100 porn websites featuring locals" Archived 2016-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, ColomboPage: Sri Lanka Internet Newspaper, 26 August 2010
^ Mallawarachi, Bharatha (7 November 2011). "Sri Lanka blocks 5 news websites over 'insults'". Deseret News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016.

External links

India

Sri Lanka

[1] "UN rights boss asks Bangladesh about graft charges". Reuters. 7 June 2007. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.

[2] "ONI Regional Overview: Asia". OpenNet Initiative. June 2009.

[3] Rebekah Heacock (1 June 2010). "Pakistan Lifts Facebook Ban; Bangladesh Cracks Down". OpenNet Initiative.

[4] "Facebook blocked". The Daily Star. 30 May 2010.

[5] "YouTube blocked in Bangladesh". The Daily Star. 17 September 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.

[6] "Bangladesh Blocks Access to YouTube". OpenNet Initiative. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2012.

[7] "Taslima's Banned Books" Archived 2015-01-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 November 2013.

[ONICountryProfiles-India-8] "ONI Country Profile: India". OpenNet Initiative. 9 May 2007.

[ONI-Pakistan-9] "ONI Country Profile: Pakistan". OpenNet Initiative. 26 December 2010.

[10] "Blasphemous websites be blocked, orders SC". Dawn. 3 March 2006.

[11] "Countries Under Survanence: Sri Lanka". Reporters Without Borders. March 2011. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011.

[12] "Popular Tamil website 'blocked'". BBC News. 20 June 2007.

[ex3-13] "Sri Lanka seeks hackers to down pro-Tiger website". Agence France-Presse (AFP). 20 June 2007. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2007.

[14] "Sri Lanka bans over 100 porn websites featuring locals" Archived 2016-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, ColomboPage: Sri Lanka Internet Newspaper, 26 August 2010

[15] Mallawarachi, Bharatha (7 November 2011). "Sri Lanka blocks 5 news websites over 'insults'". Deseret News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|none}}
-'''Censorship in South Asia''' can apply to books, movies the Internet and other media. Censorship occurs on religious, moral and political grounds, which is controversial in itself as the latter especially is seen as contrary to the tenets of [[democracy]], in terms of [[freedom of speech]] and the right to freely criticise the [[government]].
+{{Censorship by country}}
+'''Censorship in South Asia''' can apply to books, movies, the Internet and other media. Censorship occurs on religious, moral and political grounds, which is controversial in itself as the latter especially is seen as contrary to the tenets of [[democracy]], in terms of [[freedom of speech]] and the right to freely criticise the [[government]].
+==Censorship by country==
-== Bangladesh ==
+===Bangladesh===
-Several books of Bangladeshi writer [[Taslima Nasrin]] have been banned in [[Bangladesh]] and [[West Bengal]] [http://taslimanasrin.com/tn_bannedbooks.html].
+{{See also|Censorship in Bangladesh|Internet in Bangladesh#Internet censorship and surveillance|l2=Internet censorship and surveillance in Bangladesh}}
+In June 2006, the government of [[Bangladesh]] issued a restraining order preventing [[Sigma Huda]], U.N. special [[rapporteur]] on [[Trafficking in human beings|trafficking in persons]], from leaving the country to deliver a key report on trafficking before the [[Human Rights Council]] in Geneva on 11 June 2007.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights [[Louise Arbour]], 2007,  asked Bangladesh to clarify corruption charges against a U.N. human rights investigator, which will prevent her from addressing the main U.N. rights body.<ref>{{cite news |title=UN rights boss asks Bangladesh about graft charges |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/bangladesh-un-rights-idINL0782673720070607 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306174040/http://in.reuters.com/article/bangladesh-un-rights-idINL0782673720070607 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |work=Reuters |date=7 June 2007}}</ref>
-== India ==
-Several books critical of Islam have been banned in India or in parts of India. India was the first country in the world to ban ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' by [[Salman Rushdie]]. The book ''Understanding Islam through Hadits'' by [[Ram Swarup]] was also banned.
+Selective blocking of web sites for brief periods has been reported, including:
-There have also been claims that the history of the Islamic invasion of India is being systematically whitewashed and censored in Indian school-books and in other media (e.g. Shourie 1998).
+* The Bangla blogging platform Sachalayatan during July 2008
+* [[YouTube]] during March 2009<ref>{{cite web |url=http://opennet.net/research/regions/asia |title=ONI Regional Overview: Asia |date=June 2009 |website=OpenNet Initiative}}</ref>
+* [[Facebook]] in May 2010<ref>{{cite web |url=http://opennet.net/blog/2010/06/pakistan-lifts-facebook-ban-bangladesh-cracks-down |title=Pakistan Lifts Facebook Ban; Bangladesh Cracks Down |author=Rebekah Heacock |date=1 June 2010 |website=OpenNet Initiative}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Facebook blocked |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=140613 |newspaper=[[Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]] |date=30 May 2010}}</ref>
+* [[YouTube]] again in September 2012 was blocked for refusing to remove the controversial ''[[Innocence of Muslims]]'' movie trailer<ref>{{cite news |title=YouTube blocked in Bangladesh |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=250214 |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=17 September 2012 |access-date=7 April 2013 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203083643/http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=250214 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
+Later these blocks were removed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bangladesh Blocks Access to YouTube |url=http://opennet.net/blog/2009/03/bangladesh-blocks-access-youtube |date=22 March 2009 |website=OpenNet Initiative |access-date=30 June 2012}}</ref>
-== Pakistan ==
-The Pakistani government has banned the import of Indian films, leaving piracy as the only way to distribute them. [http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=232370&sid=ENT&ssid=1]
+Several books of the Bangladeshi writer [[Taslima Nasrin]] have been banned in [[Bangladesh]] and [[West Bengal]].<ref>[http://taslimanasrin.com/tn_bannedbooks.html "Taslima's Banned Books"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106160314/http://taslimanasrin.com/tn_bannedbooks.html |date=2015-01-06 }}. Retrieved 14 November 2013.</ref>
-The [[Freedom House]], which monitors freedom of speech, has placed Pakistan among countries where the press is “Not Free” in 2004 and 2005. [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-4-2005_pg7_36]
+=== India ===
-In early March 2006, the government had all websites hosted at the popular blogging service [[Blogger.com]] [http://www.dawn.com.pk/2006/03/03/nat1.htm blocked]. Millions of websites from all over the world are hosted at blogspot, along with thousands of Pakistani ones. This step by the government is possibly due to the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]], as some blogspot websites put up copies of the cartoons.
+{{main|Censorship in India |Internet censorship in India}}
+Several books that are critical of religions have been banned in [[India]], or in parts of India, which was stated to be a precautionary measure to prevent riots or other attacks. India was the second country in the world to ban ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' by [[Salman Rushdie]]. The book ''Understanding Islam through Hadis'' by [[Ram Swarup]] was also banned.
+India is listed as engaged in selective [[internet censorship|internet filtering]] in the conflict/security and internet tools areas, and no evidence of filtering was found in the political and social areas by the [[OpenNet Initiative]] (ONI) in May 2007.<ref name=ONICountryProfiles-India/> ONI states that:
-For more see [[Internet Censorship in Pakistan]]
+<blockquote>
+As a stable democracy with strong protections for press freedom, India’s experiments with [internet] filtering have been brought into the fold of public discourse. The selective censorship of [websites] and blogs since 2003, made even more disjointed by the non-uniform responses of [internet] service providers (ISPs), has inspired a clamor of opposition. Clearly government regulation and implementation of filtering are still evolving. … Amidst widespread speculation in the media and blogosphere about the state of filtering in India, the sites actually blocked indicate that while the filtering system in place yields inconsistent results, it nevertheless continues to be aligned with and driven by government efforts. Government attempts at filtering have not been entirely effective, as blocked content has quickly migrated to other [websites] and users have found ways to circumvent filtering. The government has also been criticized for a poor understanding of the technical feasibility of censorship and for haphazardly choosing which [websites] to block. The amended IT Act, absolving intermediaries from being responsible for third-party created content, could signal stronger government monitoring in the future.<ref name=ONICountryProfiles-India>{{cite web |url=http://opennet.net/research/profiles/india |title=ONI Country Profile: India |date=9 May 2007 |website=OpenNet Initiative}}</ref>
+</blockquote>
-== Sri Lanka ==
-== Literature ==
-*[[Sita Ram Goel|Goel, Sita Ram]]. The Calcutta Qur'an Petition. [http://voiceofdharma.com/books/tcqp/]
-*[[Koenraad Elst|Elst, Koenraad]]. Negationism in India: Concealing the record of Islam. [http://voiceofdharma.com/books/negaind/]
-*[[Arun Shourie|Shourie, Arun]]: [[Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud]]. New Delhi, 1998.
-== External links ==
-=== Bangladesh ===
-=== India ===
-*[http://voiceofdharma.com/books/ayodhya/ch12.htm Book banning in India]
-*[http://www.voi.org/indology/eminenthistorians1.html Arun Shourie on "Eminent historians"]
 === Pakistan ===
-[[Internet Censorship in Pakistan]]
+{{main |Censorship in Pakistan |Internet censorship in Pakistan}}
+The [[OpenNet Initiative]] listed [[internet censorship|internet filtering]] in [[Pakistan]] as "substantial" in the social and conflict/security areas, and as "selective" in the internet tools area, and as "suspected" in the political area in December 2010.<ref name=ONI-Pakistan/>
+In late 2010 Pakistanis enjoyed unimpeded access to most sexual, political, social, and religious content on the internet. Although the Pakistani government does not employ a sophisticated blocking system, a limitation which has led to collateral blocks on entire domains such as Blogspot.com and YouTube.com, it continues to block websites that contain content that it considers to be blasphemous, anti-Islamic, or threatening to internal security. Pakistan has blocked access to websites that are critical of the government.<ref name=ONI-Pakistan>{{cite web |url=http://opennet.net/research/profiles/pakistan |title=ONI Country Profile: Pakistan |date=26 December 2010 |website=OpenNet Initiative}}</ref>
+In early March 2006, the government temporarily had all websites hosted at the popular blogging service [[Blogger.com]]  blocked.<ref>{{cite news |title=Blasphemous websites be blocked, orders SC |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/181278/blasphemous-websites-be-blocked-orders-sc |newspaper=Dawn |date=3 March 2006}}</ref> Millions of websites from all over the world are hosted at blogspot, along with thousands of Pakistani ones. This step by the government is possibly due to the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]], as some blogspot websites put up copies of the cartoons.
 === Sri Lanka ===
+{{main|Press freedom in Sri Lanka|Internet Censorship in Sri Lanka}}
+[[Sri Lanka]] is listed as a country "under surveillance" by [[Reporters Without Borders]] in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.rsf.org/surveillance-sri-lanka,39720.html |title=Countries Under Survanence: Sri Lanka |date=March 2011 |website=Reporters Without Borders |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518091221/http://en.rsf.org/surveillance-sri-lanka%2C39720.html |archive-date=18 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
+Several political and news websites, including tamilnet.com and lankanewsweb.com, have been blocked within the country.<ref>{{cite news |title=Popular Tamil website 'blocked' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6221844.stm |work=BBC News |date=20 June 2007}}</ref> [[Tamilnet]] has been producing news about the [[Sri Lankan civil war]], focusing in the north and the east of the country, and is seen by the government as a [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam|Pro-LTTE]] news website. A government spokesman has said that he is looking to hire hackers to disable Tamilnet.
+<ref name=ex3>{{cite web| title =Sri Lanka seeks hackers to down pro-Tiger website| publisher =Agence France-Presse (AFP)| url =http://www.slcricket.com/mother-lanka/10470-sri-lanka-seeks-hackers-down-pro-tiger-website.html| date =20 June 2007| access-date =21 June 2007| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110209075621/http://www.slcricket.com/mother-lanka/10470-sri-lanka-seeks-hackers-down-pro-tiger-website.html| archive-date =9 February 2011}}
+</ref>
+The Sri Lanka courts have ordered hundreds of porn sites to be blocked, stating that it is to "protect women and children".<ref>[http://www.colombopage.com/archive_10B/Aug26_1282830418CH.php "Sri Lanka bans over 100 porn websites featuring locals"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019053630/http://www.colombopage.com/archive_10B/Aug26_1282830418CH.php |date=2016-10-19 }}, ''ColomboPage: Sri Lanka Internet Newspaper'', 26 August 2010</ref> This is no longer true as of 2017.
+In February of 2018, Facebook was blocked, as an effort to prevent racial-hate speech.
+In October and November 2011 the Sri Lankan Telecommunication Regulatory Commission blocked the five websites, www.lankaenews.com, srilankamirror.com, srilankaguardian.com, paparacigossip9.com, and www.lankawaynews.com, for what the government alleges as publishing reports that amount to "character assassination and violating individual privacy" and damaging the character of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ministers and senior government officials. The five sites have published material critical of the government and alleged corruption and malfeasance by politicians.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mallawarachi |first=Bharatha |date=7 November 2011 |title=Sri Lanka blocks 5 news websites over 'insults' |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700195409/Sri-Lanka-blocks-5-news-websites-over-insults.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130190229/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700195409/Sri-Lanka-blocks-5-news-websites-over-insults.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 30, 2016 |newspaper=Deseret News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>
 == See also ==
-*[[Censorship]]
+* [[Banned books]]
+* [[Banned films]]<sup>''All films banned as rated as "Adults Only" in Sri Lanka from August 2009. "Aksharaya" By Asoka Handagama in Sri Lanka from 2008.''</sup>
-*[[Banned books]]
-*[[Banned films]]
+* [[Salman Rushdie]]
+* [[Media bias in South Asia]]
-*[[Salman Rushdie]]
+* [[International Freedom of Expression Exchange]]
-*[[Media bias in South Asia]]
-*[[International Freedom of Expression Exchange]]
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
+== External links ==
+{{Wikiquote}}
+;India
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060322231935/http://voiceofdharma.com/books/ayodhya/ch12.htm Book banning in India]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181111045547/http://www.voi.org/indology/eminenthistorians1.html Arun Shourie on "Eminent historians"]
+;Sri Lanka
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080501202905/http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/article.php3?id_article=1618 Media in Sri Lanka]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928093900/http://www.ifj-asia.org/page/sri_lanka1.html Free Speech in Sri Lanka]
+{{Asia topic|Censorship in}}
+{{Politics of Sri Lanka navbox}}
-[[Category:Censorship]]
+[[Category:Censorship in Asia| South]]
-[[Category:Freedom of expression]]
+[[Category:Censorship in India]]
-[[Category:Indian media]]
+[[Category:Censorship in Bangladesh]]
-[[Category:Civil rights]]
+[[Category:Censorship in Pakistan]]

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