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COLUMNISTS
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'The media in Pakistan, as their government, is immature and biased'
E-mail from readers the world over
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 08:39:01 EDT Shame on Rediff to propagate this antisocial method. This is not freedom of speech. In times of emergency, some sort of censorship is required. The Dawn usually writes only venom about India. A responsible journal like Rediff should desist from such cheap gimmicks. Indian
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 12:03:32 +0530 Thanks. That was cool. It really works pretty well. Also was shocked to know the amount of information on the net. Went to the anonymizer home page and found a link which told me all about my comp! Scary!
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 10:31:13 +0530 The blocking of the Pakistani online newspaper Dawn by VSNL surprised many, considering the relatively moderate stance of the newspaper. A second look at this may point to something a little more sinister. Is it that the Indian establishment does not wish a moderate Pakistani section to be heard in India? Is it in the interest of a section of our political elite that Pakistan will only be seen by Indians as a bloodthirsty, Jihad-crazed and barbaric nation? If we are indeed a mature democracy with an ancient tradition of freedom and tolerance, let us practise what we preach. JS
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 21:29:53 PDT Now that Rediff has shown how smart (sic!) you are, I think you should sober down and think about why the Government of India has picked up only Dawn and not all the Pakistani papers. I used to like Rediff's coverage of the Kargil conflict but this senseless article has really turned me off (and I am sure several others). The more intelligent among you, I am sure, will realise that a war is fought on several fronts and not necessarily all the fronts are at the border.
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 07:24:34 +0000 Freedom of views may be the underlying thinking, but misuse of such is intolerable. If the Indian government feels Dawn may not be good for the people (I'm sure it's worried about the Muslims), then it should be recognised and followed. I know some Muslim friends who always favour Pakistan, only because of their religion.
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 12:40:32 +0530 A useful article on reaching the Dawn site. I would like to add that one can also request for any particular web site through email for free. All that one has to do is write a mail to www@kfs.org in a particular format. Details are on www.kfs.org
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 00:52:18 -0600 Congratulations on a great story and for helping the wired class of India exercise their right to read what they choose to read with the government acting as gatekeeper and censor. And thanks to your editors for backing you up on the story. George Lessard
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 22:47:05 -0400 This is not recommended. It is an act of cheap publicity. Our soldiers are fighting for the country. To gain some visitors to your site, you are opening doors for www.dawn.com. Everybody knows, how to bypass the gateway. I used to recommend your site to lot of users here in the US. Not anymore.
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 02:10:48 -0400 I lived and grew up in Bahrain where pornography was a big issue -- hence almost all sex sites would be censored in a manner similar to the one used to censor Dawn. Another way to get by this is to type the IP address, ie, 216.15.130.83 where you would normally type the name of the web site in your browser. It was pretty effective in Bahrain and as far as I know, it still is. Prasad
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 11:16:09 -0400 The government ordered the blockade of Dawn. Whether right or wrong, you are assisting in the breaking of a government order. I don't think you should be doing that.
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 13:23:09 +0530 How stupid can one get? VSNL should keep off the gateway, excepting to see that it is available at all times.
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 02:06:51 EDT It is sad that Rediff is advertising Dawn. Anybody who knows anything about the Internet knows it is hard to block sites on the Internet. It is hackers that shell out tricks and spread the message, not major news sources. Rediff has shown poor taste and a lack of support for the nation by publicising access to Dawn at a time of war. India allows free speech, Rediff can express in its own views and news about the Pakistani viewpoint. Instead Rediff has taken an insidious route to avoid the negative publicity of providing Pakistani views. They have just marketed the way to Pakistani news sources. If this is a gimmick to get more clicks for Rediff, it is pathetic. CNN or any other US media did not blatantly advertise the Yugoslav views during the Kosovo war. There are times to say your mind and times not to play devil's advocate. Rediff has shown a lack of responsibility and professionalism. Views and news overlap. Rediff provides only scintillating views.
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 08:55:14 -0700 (PDT) You are trying to be smart, and bypassing national policy in time of war. The government should be having some good national security reasons to block Dawn's access. The proper approach is not to act like a mercenary service, but approach the government appropriately to seek advice. The government, if necessary, can block the anonymizer services, and if bad comes to worse, it can block the otherwise valuable services of Rediff. How many times would you teach people to break an informal law, before the government decides to make it formal? That would cause much more damage to the freedom of the press. So, my advice to Rediff is, to consult the government and abide by their wishes, till the war is over. Rediff has published numerous messages criticising the Opposition for expressing opinions critical of the government at this time. The Rajya Sabha session is being opposed for the same reason, for a good cause. The Press is not above the people's representatives or the President? This is not the time for sounding discordant notes, and certainly not to sow seeds of rebellion against the government and its policy, for whatever, particularly selfish reasons.
Prof Rajendra Kumar Aggarwala (Lt Col Retd)
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 14:14:05 +0400 This is regarding your article on the ban on Dawn by VSNL for viewing by the Indian public. I don't think that the ban imposed by VSNL is wrong. One should remember, that our soldiers are fighting the war in extremely difficult conditions and at this critical juncture they need full support from the Indian public, cutting across party, caste, religion or region lines. It is a well known fact that Pakistan government, army and media are telling blatant lies about India and distorting the facts about the Kashmir problem. I, basically support the freedom of the press, but sometimes to keep the nation's interest in mind, we have to screen some false information before it reaches the common man. We haven't banned Pakistan television or newspapers earlier, however, in this critical situation it is necessary to keep their media away from the Indian public. I am sure it is only for a brief period and once the Kargil crisis is over, the ban will be lifted and freedom of press will be restored. After all, ours is the biggest democracy of the world. Democracy and freedom of the Press survived in our country despite lots of pressures, which cannot be said for Pakistan.
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 21:30:29 PDT This is regarding your article on VSNLs blockade of Pakistan's Dawn newspaper. I thought good newspapers are those which publish news as it is, not after fabricating them. I have been following what Pakistan's "One of the most respected newspapers" has to say since the Kargil conflict began. And I must say that it does not publish facts and grossly misleads the people of Pakistan, thus cheating them into believing that the world powers are backing them on the Kargil conflict. Blocking or censuring Internet sites is not a good thing to happen in a country where Internet technology is slowly but surely gaining ground each passing day. I feel you have wasted your valuable time and space on your site by putting up the article. In this crisis, India's blocking of Dawn does not matter. It is a non-issue. Subash
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 07:51:29 -0300 Traditionally, the Indian government has shown little respect for the power of the Internet. Now they think that they can censor it! This has response to Srikant and Priya's article on breaking the gateways using anonymous sites. While their effort is appreciated, I think they have to think from the perspective of national interest. The media in Pakistan as their government, is immature and biased, therefore one can just expect biased reporting. It is for such reasons that these sites are blocked. It is not a big rocket science to break into a site trespassing gateways. Why do our countrymen indulge in such acts? Stop it please!
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 16:01:26 +0530 I appreciate your efforts to break the censorship of Dawn. But one should not go against your country. If there is a decision taken not to read misleading Pak newspapers, we should obey that. When you call off the cricket matches, block PTV, why not block the newspapers? By blocking these sites, the government is not challenging technology, it is just to show the nation's protest against the Pak intrusion. I think instead of challenging the government, we should co-operate. Siva
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 23:41:43 -0700 I do not see anything wrong with this move by the government. It is an issue of national security, and it is the right of the country's government to block any negative propaganda by the opposing country. It's called news blackout, because the war is dirty and any kind of misinformation and rumours can destabilise and demoralise a country. Even the US does it.
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 11:44:05 PDT What could be your motivation for this at this point of time, when the country is fighting a terrorist state? Are you also going to provide a "Mujahideen News Update" on Kargil?
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 12:30:23 -0500 I appreciate your enthusiasm in highlighting the loopholes of VSNL's blocking system. But if VSNL wants to block the URL, it can do it by examining the whole string. When you access the blocked site through one of the anonymizer sites, the name of the website appears in the "location" string. So, by examining the whole string and searching for the blocked site in it, VSNL can block the site. Sangareddy
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