Pakistan and its Bans

The title alone might be sufficient in order to grasp the theme of this rather stirring article. Pakistan – which happens to be a land of mischief these days apparently – has been on the verge of breaking a world record for the immense number of propositions for various kinds of bans. Be it anything – measured according to relevance in relation to matters being global or national – from as minute as boycotting a local organization to something as paramount as a complete media ban, Pakistan is becoming notable to many as the king of either proposed or practiced bans.

The cause you may ask? Well, to be bluntly honest, God knows best about the – whether irascible or contemplative as well as theoretical – thoughts behind the proposed bans. Just about any group, at any time, would try to adduce some sort of embargo due to the improper behavior – improper mainly for them since they overtly don't cater much to other's opinions about the matter – of the subject in question.

A recent example to illustrate this point includes Ali Zafar's new movie Tere Bin Ladin, which is a movie one might search on and find some good reviews as of yet. It is claimed to have a humorous and witty take on the recently famous issue pertaining to terrorism but unfortunately Pakistan firmly opted to ban it, due to which the current news was furnished with a headline which claimed the movie to have released everywhere except Pakistan. It might be because of many reasons, but the reason mentioned repeatedly pertains to the idea of Pakistan being increasingly vulnerable to additional terrorist attacks. Now, I can understand why the government might be intensely concerned regarding this notion but the need of a solid ban for it escapes me and is truly beyond my rather profound thoughts. Moreover, the apparently taunting – yet true – headline seen at many websites and newspapers is adequate enough to rule Pakistan out of the whole world.

Another example might include boycotting Facebook in an attempt to display an utter annoyance for the page/group, which contained blasphemies and enraged the Muslim community throughout the world. Again, I can fully comprehend the distress people – especially Muslims – might harbor pertaining to this dilemma but I, yet again, fail to grasp the result a boycott for Facebook might have. Seemingly, it only lead people to label Pakistan with the discordant mark of intolerance, while other Muslims nations kept a patience stance either out of the faith of God taking care of the person/group in question or due to the fear of their reputation being tarnished by any asinine actions.

There are many other examples which can be mentioned when talking about bans which have been suggested or practiced in the past or even recently. The reason why I feel the compelling need to discuss this issue of bans in Pakistan, is because Pakistan needs to stop presenting itself as a considerably delicate and vulnerable nation in order to halt the embarrassing mockery. Firstly, as I mentioned above while talking about the movie ban, Pakistan unintentionally ended up being excluded from the term "everywhere" and appeared as a deserted intolerant; which caused it to be heartlessly ridiculed and be branded as a chauvinist or as a conservative nation. Pakistan, already being incinerated bit by bit by the fabricated Muslims, doesn't need additional distress by being criticized on various kinds of media where the world can bicker about it.

My suggestion would be to ignore the term ban from being affiliated with Pakistan, so that the nation of Pakistan can have the honor of seeing at least one day which doesn't have Pakistan being harshly criticized by the media. Avoid the bans in their entirety and if there absolutely has to be a ban, then support the bans which encounter social and traumatic issues such as domestic violence, illegalities of law, etc. Let's make a better Pakistan, first by making rational decisions.

Posted on Rally Pakistan on July 21, 2010
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