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Pakistan Press Foundation

Right to info

Pakistan Press Foundation

AS Pakistan enters another year of independence, we often find ourselves asking the question: Are we really free? What does freedom mean in practice? Is it simply the right to exist as a ‘Pakistani’ citizen? To me, freedom means being entitled to the full spectrum of my human rights, including the right to education and […]


IT ministry, PTA put on notice

Pakistan Press Foundation

Karachi: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the information technology secretary, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority chairman and others on Tuesday on a petition challenging the ban on video-sharing website YouTube. Saadullah Khan and others petitioners submitted that the PTA had banned over 1,000 websites including YouTube since September 2012 because of blasphemous contents. They […]


Senate body approves amendment in Right to Information Bill 2013

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting and National Heritage on Tuesday approved the Right to Information Bill 2013 with proposed amendments. Senator Farhatullah Babar told the committee that the Upper House has already passed Right to Information Bill 2013 but the government has proposed amendments. After finalisation of discussion of amendments the […]


No transparency, no information

Pakistan Press Foundation

Worthy legislation is one thing, getting it implemented quite another. There is much to applaud in the passing of the Punjab Right to Transparency and Information Bill in December 2013, but since the bill came on to the statute books precious little has been done to implement it. The government has not reserved any funds […]


FCCI hails Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act

Pakistan Press Foundation

FAISALABAD: Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013 (RTI) is a positive step towards a transparent, efficient and publicly acceptable governance system in Punjab, said Engr. Suhail Bin Rashid, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI). He was chairing the first ‘RTI Baithak’ organized by Beacon house University on ‘Role of Civil Society […]


People educated on right to info

Pakistan Press Foundation

SIALKOT: USAID and DTCE jointly organised a session on accountability & right to information and the participants were told that Article 19A of the Constitution of Pakistan provides that every citizen shall have the right to information in all the matters of public importance. Ghulam Mustafa, a capacity development specialist, informed the participants that public […]


More on the YouTube ban?

Pakistan Press Foundation

Sir: Even those outside of the ‘liberal-fascist’ viewpoint are now beginning to understand that the ban on YouTube is suspect, and few believe this issue is about blasphemous content anymore. The question is: who benefits from the YouTube ban in Pakistan? Actually, there is a long list of those benefiting from the ongoing blockage of […]


Why is YouTube still in chains?

Pakistan Press Foundation

The internet has given people a new level of freedom and a higher degree of access to information. YouTube is not just a video sharing website, it is a platform There are two sides to every picture: the sentence is simple, declarative and apparently does not seem to have hidden meanings. The problem is that […]


Cyber- jihad and espionage

Pakistan Press Foundation

From its earliest days, the internet was conceived as an open, anarchic space where no government could censor content or spy on traffic. That was then: now welcome to the world of cyber-espionage. States have been acutely conscious of the vast flow of possibly subversive messages in the form of emails, tweets and Facebook comments […]


Chances for YouTube opening dim

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: The eager and impatient users of YouTube in Pakistan will have to wait longer as it cannot become functional in Pakistan unless Google removes blasphemous material altogether or a localised version is introduced in the country, the government officials told The Nation on Wednesday. Hopes of YouTube enthusiasts rekindled a few days back when […]


Right to information: YouTube ban equated with stopping blasphemy

Pakistan Press Foundation

LAHORE: A group of lawyers favouring the ban on YouTube staged protested demonstration outside the Lahore High Court against “blasphemy or any steps taken to defend blasphemers.” Bytes for All, the petitioner, is seeking withdrawal of the ban on the popular video sharing website. Its counsel Yasser Latif Hamdani and four officials appeared at the […]


No foolproof way to block banned video, says PTA chief

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: There is no foolproof way to block access to a video that resulted in the ban on YouTube in Pakistan, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Dr Ismail Shah. Dr Shah’s statement on Monday came a day before the Lahore High Court hears a petition seeking the court’s directive to the government to allow […]


When will YouTube reopen?

Pakistan Press Foundation

Classical ballet has always been popular with our daughter. She will watch it for hours, imitating the dancers with a developing confidence and awareness of the storylines of the more popular ballets, with Swan Lake being the long-time favourite. For the umpteenth time, we watched the finale and compared different ballet companies’ versions of the […]


RTI information commission incomplete as deadline looms

Pakistan Press Foundation

PESHAWAR: The information commission under the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Right to Information (RTI) Act is yet to be established, rendering the act itself dysfunctional till then. The K-P RTI commission has to be established within 120 days of the enactment of the law, an official at the Civil Secretariat, Peshawar told The Express Tribune. “The 120-day […]