I realize that this response here is beyond even late, yet I wanted to congratulate you and Mr. Omar for your efforts towards bringing to attention the illegitimate blocking of websites, particularly blogs, in Pakistan. Thanks to these efforts, that we see such a well-knit Pakistani blogosphere which seems to grow stronger with every passing day. Thank you for all your efforts. :)

Best regards,
Dr. Saeed

But that being said, I still feel that no matter what anyone says the solution to this problem is not masacring those poor people of Afghanistan and Iraq. People who have nothing to do with any of the things going on are being killed. The question here is not that is this on purpose or not or is it colateral damage or not, the question is why are those people suffering when they are innocent of the crimes, which these attacks are avenging.

As to the question of whether blogs should be silenced or not. Of course they should not. I do not know what has gotten into the government and the people. The freedom of speech belongs to everyone. If the Danish newspaper did publish those cartoons, it can be said that according to this liberty they are permitted to do so.

But was it right to do what they did is the question. We muslims lack one thing and that is to use the rights, which the west calls fundamental and acts upon so often. If they have the freedom of speech so do we.

Apparently we tried to prove them right by burning down our own cities and towns. These blogs and these sites were our weopon. They were the means, which would have helped us to show how wrong those ideas were.

And what does our government do, well they block them. Why do they block them? In order to prevent the people of this country to not see those cartoons. By the time they actually blocked these websites many of the people had already seen them.

Anyhow, the point is if they are trying to show their concern regarding this issue, they are doing a terrible job. By blocking these blogs they are not only suppressing what the west has to say on the matter but is also preventing the Pakistani community from fighting back.

I sincerely feel that if the government is talking of enlightened moderation they should at least practically express this motive. By preventing their own people from seeing these cartoons they might be trying to prevent further hostility or trying to prevent Pakistani people from housing such ideas too, but while doing so if they prevent us from coming out and sharing our views with the world, it is the violation of our rights as well as violation of the rights of those people who voiced their views on those blog sites.

The tragic images of innocent victims can make it seem like these terrorist attacks are random and isolated acts of madness. While these killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks flow from an ideology and a terrifying vision for the world. Their acts are evil, but they’re not insane. Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever we choose to call this enemy, we must recognize that this ideology is very different from the tenets of the great religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment — by terrorism, subversion, and insurgency — of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.

I know that you are working very hard on free expression issues on the Internet, especially censorship of Blogspot and Wikipedia. With your permission, I would like to quote from your speech.

Also, you have focused on freedom of expression for Blogspot blogs written by Pakistanis. What do you and your organization think about the blocking of non-Pakistani blogs that posted the Danish cartoons and that express anti-Islamic sentiments?

The local Oregon blog not only published the cartoons, but invited readers to submit more cartoons. In addition, the blog uses the term “Islamofascists” and other anti-Islamic terms. Do you think the Pakistani government is right to block this site, or should it allow the Pakistani people to see the site?

You can reach me online at stevewoodward@news.oregonian.com. Thanks very much for any insight you can provide.

Steve Woodward