Censorship in South Asia
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.
Bangladesh
Several books of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin have been banned in Bangladesh and West Bengal [1].
India
Several books critical of religion 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 Hadis by Ram Swarup was also banned. Pornography is illegal and media depicting sex are frequently cut.
Pakistan
The Pakistani government has banned the import of Indian films, leaving piracy as the only way to distribute them. [2]
The Freedom House, which monitors freedom of speech, has placed Pakistan among countries where the press is “Not Free” in 2004 and 2005. [3]
In early March 2006, the government had all websites hosted at the popular blogging service Blogger.com 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.
Sri Lanka
Literature
- Goel, Sita Ram. The Calcutta Qur'an Petition. [4]
- Elst, Koenraad. Negationism in India: Concealing the record of Islam. [5]
- Shourie, Arun: Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. New Delhi, 1998.
External links
Bangladesh
India
Pakistan
Internet Censorship in Pakistan
Sri Lanka
See also
- Censorship
- Banned books
- Banned films
- Salman Rushdie
- Media bias in South Asia
- International Freedom of Expression Exchange
