The Scum of Pakistani Journalism

If you had any doubts about

1) the new Cyber-Crime Act, also known as the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO)

2) Ansar Abbasi, also known as the snivelling worm of journalism

take a load of this story in The News, proudly proclaiming the two working in tandem, to nab someone who sent a private email to Ansar Abbasi, allegedly with "blasphemous content."

Some choice selections from the story:

On the complaint of Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigations, The News, and following initial investigations held by the IT Wing of the Jang Group, the FIA traced the accused through the obnoxious e-mail and got him arrested for allegedly committing blasphemy. This is the first case of its nature in Pakistan where an accused has been arrested for committing blasphemy through the Internet.

...

The accused is alleged to have sent an e-mail to Ansar Abbasi, at his official e-mail address, in response to the column of the senior journalist that appeared in the daily Jang on June 29. The accused used Dr Omar Zia as his name and used khayyam_o@yahoo.com as the e-mail containing highly blasphemous material.

...

Since the Prevention of Electronic Crime Ordinance (PECO) does not have any provision covering the serious offence of blasphemy, therefore, the case was referred to the Karachi Police after the accused was arrested by the FIA under Section 5 of the FIA Act. The accused was probed by the concerned Cyber Crime Circle of the FIA in Karachi under Section 20 of PECO.

Later, on the advice of the FIA, a fresh complaint was lodged with the Karachi Police by Ansar Abbasi, reporting the receipt of blasphemous e-mails because PECO was inadequate to be applied in such a serious offence. On receipt of the said complaint and following the investigations carried out by the FIA, an FIR was formally lodged by the Karachi Police against the accused on blasphemy charges.

There are a number of issues that this case throws up. The first, of course, is the collusion between a journalist (Abbasi), a news orgnaization (Jang Group) and the authorities in a matter that held no significance to the public. The email, sent by the accused (even under a false identity) was sent privately to the journalist, did not from the looks of it contain any threats of harming the journalist or the news organization, and could not have led to any public incitement of any sort without it being made public by the journalist and the organization. That, rather than simply ignoring an "obnoxious" email or replying to it privately, the journalist and his news organization would inform (i.e. rat out to) the authorities in order to track down the sender and prosecute him, tells you much about the journalistic credentials of both. As someone who does not tire of being self-righteous about other journalists who collude with government, Ansar Abbasi should know this is precisely what he has done.

Secondly, it also shines a light on how exactly the PECO is going to be (mis)used. Once again, the said email/s did not, prima facie, include anything that could be considered as bringing the security of the country into threat or disrepute, which the government has been claiming is the only matter PECO will address. Neither did it have any "malicious", or "ill-motivated" hoax directed against the government - this was a private email sent to a private individual, expressing an opinion. That the FIA should deem it fit to get involved in this matter, makes a mockery of the parameters of even this highly controversial law.

Finally, it also raises the red flag over the Taliban-mindset within so-called independent journalists such as Ansar Abbasi and segments of a government supposedly opposed to the persecution of citizens on religious grounds. The fact that both connived in registering a case under the odious blasphemy laws - which carry a mandatory death sentence - against an individual, indicates exactly where their commitment to freedom of speech and expression lie. At issue here is not how "blasphemous" the emails allegedly were. The simple point of the matter is they were not in the public domain and could not have caused any "public reaction" (the fallback response of the witch-hunters); they were simply used to settle personal scores and persecute someone who obviously had hurt Mr. Abbasi's gargantuan ego.

A sad, sad day for Pakistan's citizens and Pakistani journalism.

Provoke A Leader Day

Just when you think they may be becoming sane, they go and do and say something so imbecilic that you are forced to reassess your charitable views. I'm speaking of course of the government, and in particular the honchos at the head of security policy in Pakistan.

If you don't immediately know what I'm talking about, read the front pages of Dawn and The News. Here's what Dawn had to report:

"ISLAMABAD, July 12: The government announced on Sunday that sending indecent, provocative and ill-motivated stories and text messages through e-mails and mobile telephone Short Messaging Service (SMS) was an offence under the Cyber Crime Act (CCA) and its violators could be sent behind bars for 14 years.

An official announcement by the interior ministry said that the government was launching a campaign against circulation of what it called ill-motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against civilian leadership and security forces.

The announcement does not elaborate what is meant by ill-motivated e-messages, but it is believed that the ‘civilian leadership’ meant President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other politicians.

A senior official of the ministry said: “Sending indecent message is a crime under the Cyber Crime Act and liable to punishment.” He said that some elements had been trying to malign the political leadership and security forces engaged in a military operation in Malakand and some areas in Fata.

The government has tasked the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell to block or trace such emails and mobile telephones’ SMS.

Under the Cyber Crime Act, violators could be jailed for 14 years, besides confiscation of their property. Similarly, any Pakistani living abroad and violating provisions of the act may be charged and will be liable to deportation to Pakistan."

Now, some of you may remember this issue having surfaced a few months ago, when the PPP leadership had publicly expressed its annoyance over the jokes doing the rounds on SMS, in particular about the "Chairman Do Number", as the erudite party secretary general Jehangir Badr had once called the Co-Chairperson of the party (I kid you not!). The outrage over their stated vow to monitor people's SMS-es "to find the culprits" had led to the whole matter being buried. Not for long it seems. The present attempt, disguised as it may be in the garb of 'national security' and concern over 'the maligning of the Malakand and FATA operation', seems to me to be simply re-igniting the whole obsession over what people are saying in private to each other about our great leaders.

What IS the problem with our leaders?!? Are they really so concerned about their (non-existent) image in the eyes of the public? Or are they simply trying to scare people into not even laughing at the sorry lot that is their burden? Or are they, shudder!, actually serious?

But wait, there is more on how exactly the government will go about doing this:

"Under the campaign, all Internet Service Providers would be checked physically by the FIA on a daily basis.

The directive said the campaign would also target proscribed organisations which had been using internet for malicious propaganda against security forces.

The Director General of FIA, Mr Tariq Khosa, has been instructed to monitor and check stories and messages. An FIA official said that strict action would be taken against all culprits in the next few days.

“Interpol/Lyon has also been requested to identify those email addresses and websites registered abroad which are being used for such stories,” the official said."

OK, the FIA - no, specifically, its DG Tariq Khosa, is going to physically (!) monitor all the millions of emails and SMS-es flying through the ether every single day. Will he need a print-out or will he check them on the screen? They don't really say. Will he check ALL of them (note to the SO: stop sending those intimate messages!) or only the hundreds of thousands that might be flagged for mentioning Chairman Do Number, Col Raymond, the army, Malakand, Taliban etc? (I fear the PM has as usual simply been coopted for this to create a distraction). The "Interpol / Lyon" touch was rather charming. By the by, all web-based email accounts, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. are "registered abroad." Could our decision-makers get any more cretinous?

Here's my suggestion to all who would like to take the piss to such cretins: circulate as many jokes about the above-mentioned as you can to all your friends, asking your friends to forward them to as many as they can, and on and on. Let's flood the ether with "indecent" and "provocative" and "ill-motivated" messages. At best, the government will learn to keep its nose where it should. At worst, it'll provide Mr Khosa and his team hours of reading pleasure.

Oh, and Asif Zardari, you Mr. Ten Percent, you, does Rehman Malik really suck the sweat off your balls?... Provocative enuff fer ya?