JNN 17 July 2012 Karachi: A website which acts as watchdog for murder of Shias, motivated by sectarian differences, Shiakilling.com, was apparently blocked on Saturday night.
Visitors were greeted with a “this webpage is not available” sign as they tried to access the site.
Many people from Pakistan on the social media site twitter protested against the forced inability to access the web page. Some blamed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for instituting a politically motivated ban, however this could not be confirmed independently.
The site came back online briefly, before visitors started getting the aforementioned notice again.
The block comes Saturday night, almost a week after the regulatory body had blocked the official website of the Ahmadiyya community, which was ‘unblocked’ later.
Episodes of violence against Shia Muslims in Pakistan have been on the rise recently, particularly target killing of community members in Karachi and Hazaras in Balochistan especially .
Some on twitter protesting against the apparent ban wrote under the trend hashtag #Dont Ban Shia Killing Website:
Abdul Nishapuri@AbdulNishapuri
Don’t waste your tweets in support of http://ShiaKilling.com . Use this hashtag to build a campaign: #Dont Ban Shia Killing Website Please RT
Darvesh@Darveshh
The most updated portal that provides report on Shia killing in Pakistan,http://Shiakilling.com , has been banned.#DontBanShiaKillingWebsite
Ali Salman Alvi@alisalmanalvi
In a hideous move PTA has banhttp://Shiakilling.com . Instead of stopping Shia Killings they are suppressing the voices against Shia Killings.
The Right of free speech has been guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan, so the Ban should be lifted against the site.
In future such voices should not be suppressed , as they are giving a corner to the People of the community to speak out of their grievances , and if on one side there is nothing done to give an ear to the grievances and the Injustices against the community members , and all the voices will be suppressed , then how the Youth of the community will justify to take out their grievances , will not be known to anybody , and if they choose some other way then , that will be dangerous for the Nation .
Jafria News 