WASHINGTON: The United States has strongly supported Pakistan’s move to ban certain internet sites, saying the Pakistani government had the right to protect its public from offensive images and speech.

At a briefing at the State Department, Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley also noted that images on a Facebook page were deeply offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The United States, he said, was against any “deliberate attempt to offend Muslims” and respected their right to practise their faith as they willed.

Defending the Pakistani action against offensive sites, Mr Crowley also advised Islamabad to find a balance between freedoms of religion and expression.

The State Department’s reaction follows Pakistan’s decision to block the video-sharing site YouTube, Facebook and other pages that hurt Muslim sentiments.

Commenting on Pakistan’s efforts to block the sites containing material offensive to the Muslim faith, Mr Crowley noted that this was a difficult issue for the Pakistani government.

“Pakistan is wrestling to this issue. We respect any actions that need to be taken under Pakistani law to protect their citizens from offensive speech,” said the US State Department official while rejecting a suggestion from a journalist to condemn Islamabad’s actions.

“At the same time, Pakistan has to make sure that in taking any particular action, that you’re not restricting speech to the millions and millions of people who are connected to the internet and have a universal right to the free flow of information,” he added.

Meanwhile, Scott Rubin, a spokesman for YouTube, said the site was working with Pakistani telecommunication officials to resolve the issue and that “we hope we restore service soon”. He added: “This is up to Pakistan telecom authority.”

“Obviously, this is a difficult and challenging issue,” said the State Department official while commenting on the developments.

“Many of the images that appear on Facebook were deeply offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We are deeply concerned about any deliberate attempt to offend Muslims or members of any other religious groups,” said Mr Crowley.

“We do not condone offensive speech that can incite violence or hatred.”

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...ock-images-250

-----------------------------------

Above statement is a slap on the faces of those who highly criticized the decision of LHC and PTA. Again Pakistan proved itself "Castle of Islam". None of the Islamic country adopter stern measures against blasphemous contents like Pakistan did. I would like to pay tribute to Justice Khawaja Sharif through the following quotation about that case.


Four things belong to a judge:

to hear courteously,
to answer wisely,
to consider soberly,
and to decide impartially.