Pakistan condemned for banning website

KABUL (PAN): Afghan journalists have strongly condemned Pakistan’s move
to shut down a Pashtu website that releases news, opinion and articles on
regional issues.
A statement from the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association said
the ban on “Khabaryal” was against the freedom of speech and
international conventions on human rights.
The website’s operators said Pakistani internet companies had also blocked
the webpage in parts of Afghanistan. The association said the closure was
a clear violation of the freedom of speech.
Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Daudzai and Communications Minister
Amirzai Sangin had repeatedly requested Pakistani authorities to lift the
ban, but to no avail, the statement said.
“It seems that Pakistan clings to its stance on international conventions,”
the journalists’ association said.
Quoting officials of the website, the statement said the page did not open
in Pakistan and some eastern Afghan provinces.
The association said it believed Khabaryal’s role in bringing the two nations
closer had been effective and it helped removed misunderstandings
between people of the two countries.
“The world has shrunken into a global village. The era of media censorship
has gone,” the statement said, asking Pakistani authorities to lift the ban
on the webpage immediately.
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2012/07/31...anning-website

KABUL (PAN): Afghan journalists have strongly condemned Pakistan’s move
to shut down a Pashtu website that releases news, opinion and articles on
regional issues.
A statement from the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association said
the ban on “Khabaryal” was against the freedom of speech and
international conventions on human rights.
The website’s operators said Pakistani internet companies had also blocked
the webpage in parts of Afghanistan. The association said the closure was
a clear violation of the freedom of speech.
Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Daudzai and Communications Minister
Amirzai Sangin had repeatedly requested Pakistani authorities to lift the
ban, but to no avail, the statement said.
“It seems that Pakistan clings to its stance on international conventions,”
the journalists’ association said.
Quoting officials of the website, the statement said the page did not open
in Pakistan and some eastern Afghan provinces.
The association said it believed Khabaryal’s role in bringing the two nations
closer had been effective and it helped removed misunderstandings
between people of the two countries.
“The world has shrunken into a global village. The era of media censorship
has gone,” the statement said, asking Pakistani authorities to lift the ban
on the webpage immediately.
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2012/07/31...anning-website


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