PM orders immediate shutdown of Youtube services

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minsiter Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered immediate shutdown of video-sharing website Youtube in the aftermath of protests against anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims,” which is still available on the website, 

In a directive issued to the Ministry of Information Technology, the PM stated that the decision was taken after Youtube decided against removing the film and the shutdown will remain effective until the website removes all content from the sacrilegious film.
In a statement released last week, Youtube said it would not remove the film as it does not violate its terms of use, despite pressure from the White House to review its decision.
At the filing of this report (2045PST) the website still remained accessible in Pakistan.
Protests against the film have broken out all across the Muslim world and have spread over Pakistan in the last few days, with one person being killed in violent protests on Monday.
While Youtube has not removed the controversial clip, it has blocked access to it in countries where violent protests have remained unabated. These include Libya, Egypt and most recently, India and Indonesia.
YouTube cited “very sensitive situations” in those two countries.
In its Friday statement, YouTube said that outside of Libya, Egypt, India and Indonesia, the video will remain on its website.
“We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions,” the YouTube statement said.
“This can be a challenge because what’s OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video – which is widely available on the web – is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, we’ve restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries. This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007.”
Interior Minister Rehman Malik later on, while speaking at a press conference, said that a letter will written to the OIC chairman regarding the matter as well as the Secretary Interpol.

DAWN

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Anti-Islam film: Protesters clash with police near US consulate in Karachi

KARACHI: A rally taken out by Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) to lodge their protest against the anti-Islam film led to a clash with police when the participants were stopped from proceeding towards the US consulate.

Police used tear gas, aerial firing and water cannon to stop the protesters from making their way to the US consulate and in retaliation the protesters pelted the police with stones.

Protesters made their way to the US consulate where they threw stones at the building, later dispersing after being asked by MWM leaders.

According to the spokesman of the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen a protester was killed during the clash with the police, however rescue sources state that six people were injured during the clash. - GEO NEWS

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Protests against anti-Islam film continue across Pakistan

KARACHI: Protests against the anti-Islam film continued across Pakistan on Sunday. Protests were held in Kohat, Quetta, Karachi, Lahore and Azad Kashmir. 

In Kohat, a protest rally was taken out which culminated at the Cantt Gate. Apart from workers of political parties, ordinary citizens also took part in the rally.
In Kotli a district of Azad Kashmir, protests were held at the Shaheed Chowk and protestors chanted slogans against the makers of the film. A rally was also held in Lahore which started in the Gulberg area and ended at Baradari.
Meanwhile the road leading to the US Consulate in Karachi was blocked in order to avoid any untoward incident.
Protests were also held in Jhelum, Nawabshah, Jacobabad and DI Khan against the anti-Islam film (Geo)

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Google rejects White House request to pull anti-Islam film clip

 SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc rejected a request by the White House on Friday to reconsider its decision to keep online a controversial YouTube movie clip that has ignited anti-American protests in the Middle East.
The Internet company said it was censoring the video in India and Indonesia after blocking it on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya, where US embassies have been stormed by protestors enraged over depiction of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a fraud and philanderer.
On Tuesday, the US Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in a fiery siege on the embassy in Benghazi.
Google said it was further restricting the clip to comply with local law rather than as a response to political pressure.
“We’ve restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia, as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries,” the company said. “This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007.” White House officials had asked Google earlier on Friday to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube’s terms of service. The guidelines can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines.
Google initially said on Wednesday that the video was within its guidelines. US authorities said on Friday that they were investigating whether the film’s producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year old Egyptian Coptic Christian living in Southern California, had violated terms of his prison release. Basseley was convicted in 2010 for bank fraud and released from prison on probation last June.

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