One Facebook, Two Faces: A Piece by a Virtually Dead Man

I had been banned from Facebook and my account had been disabled a night before Facebook was banned in Pakistan. Before all this happened, I visited the blasphemous page “Draw Muhammad Day” and the content on the page hurt me badly. Once again a certain group of westerners called it the “freedom of expression” and went on to show extremism – something they always verbally disassociate themselves from. As a response to this lunacy, I thought it best to find out how they respond to others’ right of freedom of expression – I created an Adolf Hitler page right away and it read, “To all those who think they can ridicule Islam in the name of freedom of expression and yet punish those who speak of the genius of Hitler”. The comment on the wall read, “Let’s hit them where it hurts them the most”. Further I added some photos of the Fuhrer, Nazi Party and the Italian Footballer Paolo Di Canio who was banned and fined by FIFA two years ago for performing the “controversial” Roman Salute which according to him gave him a sense of belonging to his people. Within an hour tens of people joined the Hitler page which was named “H | T L E R”. The very next time I tried to log in I found out that my profile had been disabled for ‘violation of Facebook Regulations’.

Despite the fact that there exists no proof of the holocaust and no evidence that six million Jews died in concentration camps during WWII, let’s just imagine that it did happen. Now how is it that Hitler is termed as the most evil person in the history of mankind while those that bomb Muslims, commit heinous crimes in their countries, ridicule their Prophet and Quran and as a result hurt the sentiments of 1.2 billion Muslims are hailed as heroes? And I wonder why the victims of Holocaust are more important than victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Despite the protest of a large number of Muslims, Facebook has failed to remove the blasphemous page from the website. According the statement issued by Facebook their policy is to withhold such content in countries where it is controversial. The statement specifically says that we do not remove Nazi content from Facebook because it is illegal only in a few countries. As two-faced statements go, this one takes the prize. Perhaps before issuing the statement the Facebook did not realise that words like “Adolf Hitler”, “Sieg Heil” and “Nazi” are not allowed to be used on Facebook to create new pages.

And if all this and the removal of Hitler page and the permanent deactivation of my profile isn’t enough, here is a testament to Facebook’s vile hypocrisy. The statement issued by Facebook on 20 May says, “We strongly believe that Facebook users have the freedom to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content, groups or pages that speak out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas.” And the very next day I received an email from Facebook Operations which says, “One of Facebook’s main priorities is the comfort and safety of our users. We do not tolerate hate speech. Targeting people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or disease is a serious violation of our standards and has resulted in the permanent loss of your account. We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason. This decision is final.”

Now these two conflicting statements speak volumes about the discrimination by the Facebook. It simply means that Facebook through its official statement to global media wants the world to believe that they are the torchbearers of freedom of expression and allow everyone to speak their minds out. On the other hand the face that individuals like me get to see is a much horrible one. It talks about hate and intolerance and all forms of so-called equality and unshakable resolve. While Facebook is portraying itself as the silent and innocent onlooker for the entire world, I wonder what gives them the right to remove a major chunk of my life from the web.

I don’t think Facebook should come up with any clarification statements for the Muslim world over what happened. It is clearer than crystal that as long as we are labelled as extremists, we are not going to enjoy the equal rights in this world. And those that are trying to play God love to label us that. While reporting the Facebook ban in Pakistan in different articles, guardian.co.uk mentions the brutality of Pakistan Army in Swat while Yahoo thinks it’s necessary to unveil Al-Qaida’s plans of attacks on Danish and Dutch football teams. It is a blatant attempt to criticize Pakistan for placing the ban, link the country to extremism and terrorism and thereby justifying this sacrilegious act of Facebook users.


by

Comments

68 responses to “One Facebook, Two Faces: A Piece by a Virtually Dead Man”

  1. S.A.R.A Avatar
    S.A.R.A

    Simple answer: When you join facecbook, you click to agree on their terms of service which is based on the US laws! Their law does not allow you to talk about Holocaust, like the Muslim law does not allow one to depict our Prophet (PBUH) and his family or associates.. Muslim laws are for Muslims, and not for any other religion.

    When you want to use their free service, then you have to use it as per their terms not yours.

    1. Silver Slayer Avatar
      Silver Slayer

      Sara,

      Do you have any references to support your claims.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial#Law

      Wikipedia does not list USA as having implicit or explicit anti-holocaust laws.

      "When you want to use their free service, then you have to use it as per their terms not yours."

      Interesting… insight.

    2. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar

      BiBi I bet you have not even read Facebook's terms and conditions. Yawn

    3. QaimKhani Avatar
      QaimKhani

      This is typical hypocrite response, these clowns can come up with….

      S.A.R.A and other Kaley-Angrez, would come up with all sorts of reasoning in order to suck-up to the masters.

      They are so used to being slave that they just get irks when some *slaves* question the slavery….

    4. QaimKhani Avatar
      QaimKhani

      and BTW, if facebook is providing content in Pakistan, it has to obey Pakistani Laws [PERIOD], just like goodle has to obey Chinese laws when providing content to people in China.

      Pakistani did not ban FB for the whole world, it only banned it in Pakistan and which it has right to do so.

    5. skeptic Avatar
      skeptic

      Salam Saad,

      You have really exposed the two faces of facebook management.

      Their public statement the other day and what they did to you speaks volumes.

      I do implore you to write this as a letter and article every major news papers in Pakistan and for that matter the world. Maybe submit it to drudgereport too.

      Well done.

    6. Saad Warraich Avatar
      Saad Warraich

      S.A.R.A

      The violation of Facebook rules and regulations is not a big deal. Matter of fact they themselves have violated their Rules with their official statement. It simple doens't go with their rules.

      Ok so here's the thing. If you did not agree to some of their policies, would you ask them to remove those clauses from their rules so you could join Facebook? WOuld they agree to it if you requested this? The answer is No. So you simple have no choice but to accpet them as is. This is because you have no negotiating power. Now as per law a contract is null and void if one party has no negotating power and ismple has to accept teh terms. Yet it is your right to join a global social network. So these rules do not in fact hold in law for the same reason.

    7. Silver Slayer Avatar
      Silver Slayer

      Oh, do you know "Everybody Draw Zuckerberg's Mother" Page was shut down?

    8. Asif Avatar
      Asif

      When Hazrat Umar RA used to march for fighting, the kings used to pee in their pants…we DO NOT need United Nations or any such forums to help us…FIRST we need to make a connection with ALLAH swt and bring the ways of Rasullah saw in our lives and perfect our emaan. When this happens, ALLAH will empower us and no one will be able to do freedom of speech. Rasullah saw said,this world is like a prison for a momin and a heaven for a non believer…

    9. Aamir Mughal Avatar

      Asif says: May 29, 2010 at 2:47 am When Hazrat Umar RA used to march for fighting, the kings used to pee in their pants

      ===========================

      Reference Please. Hazrat Omar [May Allah be pleased with him] fought side by side with Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] against Polytheists of Makkah and Jews in Medina. However, when he [May Allah be pleased with him] became Caliph and wanted to lead the army during the Iran Campaign then Hazrat Ali [May Allah be pleased with him] advised him and stopped him and said "you shouldn't leave the Capital [Medina] because your being Caliph is more important then directly facing the Kuffars [Infidels] because you are like a pillar and Infidels would try their best to harm you in Battle." [Futhooh Al Baldan by Bilazari, Al Bidaya Wal Nihaya by Ibn Kathir and others] Hazrat Omar [May Allah be pleased with him] left Medina [during his Caliphate] for distant land [Palestine] when it was conquered by Muslims and Christian Priest there wanted Peace Treaty with Muslimsa and wanted Physical Presence of Hazrat Omar [May Allah be pleased with him], so he went there and "gave Christians his words that your Crosses, Churches, Lives, Honour and Property are hereby given protection [Aman] and signed the letter and gave it to Chief Priest and that letter is still in Museum either in Turkey or Palestine [illegally Israel] – The details are taken from Tarrekh Ibn Khaldun Vol 1 and 2 Chapter Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] and Caliphs [May Allah be pleased with them] of Prophet Mohammad. One thing may please be kept in mind that when Hazrat Omar left Medina for Palestine he nominated Hazrat Ali [May Allah be pleased with him] as a Caretaker Caliph in his absence [References are same as above]

      Most of the Campaign in Kafir Lands were lead by Khalid Bin Waleed, Sa'ad Bin Waqas [Maternal Uncle of Prophet Mohammad – PBUH], Abu Ubaida Al Jarrah, Abu Sufiyan Bin Harb [Prophet Mohammad – PBUH], Ameer Muawiya'ah Bin Abu Sufiyan [Prophet Mohammad – PBUH Brother in Law], Yazid Bin Abi Sufiyan [Elder brother of Ameer Muawiyah and Brother in Law of Prophet Mohammad – PBUH] and Am'r Bin Al A'aas [May Allah eb pleased with all of them]

    10. Aamir Mughal Avatar

      Asif says: = May 29, 2010 at 2:47 am

      =======================

      Correction: Abu Sufiyan Bin Harb [May Allah be pleased with him was Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)'s Father in Law]

  2. Fatima Ajmal Avatar
    Fatima Ajmal

    Selective justice is no justice at all. Facebook should know better but as S.A.R.A above in the comments points out, we all agree to U.S. based terms and conditions when creating an account which does not allow us to talk about or make fun of the Holocaust.

    It's no longer about those pages on Facebook, what we are asking for is much bigger. We are asking for a change in policies, and a change in Western mind-set, preferably at international legislative level. To make sure, such furor is not repeated, Muslims need to take up the issue at the RIGHT places in a CIVILIZED manner.

    Pressurizing, blanket-banning and violent attempts won't work because they'd much rather offend billions of Muslims than appear as someone who gave in to censorship demands by an angry mob.

    I say, we get organized and stop fighting amongst ourselves -everyone has different ideas of how the situation should have been handled -but we are all UNITED against blasphemy. We should put together a workable game plan. Let's put it in ink and paper at any international forum, like UN for instance, so that such blasphemy is NEVER repeated.

    Alas, our government is busy in sensationalizing the issue, rather than playing a key role to resolve it.

    1. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar

      Fatima several anti Shia and Qadyani sites have been banned without even a slightest protest by Shias and Qadyanis. Will you advocate to open those sites?

      Also, there are people in tribal areas who might want to read their ameer on various Pro-Taliban sites, should we open them as well in the name of freedom?

      p.s: DO answer and other questions which I asked you on your own post as well

    2. Fatima Ajmal Avatar
      Fatima Ajmal

      I don't know how many times I have to repeat myself, but I do not condone insulting or attacking ANY religion or promoting terrorism in the name of freedom of speech, be it Islam or Hinduism or Christianity or any number of sects of Islam. I trust you to infer the answer to both your questions from this. I do not own Facebook, I have not made their policies. The only thing I have been trying to say is that we can choose our reactions wisely, that's all. And before you jump to conclusions, questioning my faith and my beliefs, my way of thinking conforms with what the Ulema of EVERY OTHER Muslim country in this world have been saying on this issue: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and so on. They have all called for Muslims to remain patient. Having said that, it doesn't make me a torch-bearer or anything of that sort-it just means that I have an opinion. You may differ with me on it. And that is perfectly fine.

      About the other post, I felt that all points have already been covered and all clarifications offered in various comments and counter-comments. If something in the article has offended you, then my apologies for that -it was not intentional -off course I'm not an impeccable writer or an expert of any kind.

    3. JKL Avatar
      JKL

      @Faitma

      Please correct yourself

      US does not have any such laws which deal specifically with denial or making fun of Holocaust

      Even facebook does not have anything specially related to holocaust in their TOS, the TOS simply say that objectionable/hateful material is not allowed

      now its the hypocrisy of fb that it deems talking of holocaust hateful while talking ill of Islam is allowed

    4. Kathy Avatar
      Kathy

      Fatima- it is not just the holocaust you can't ridicule but also slavery AND genocide against ANYONE INCLUDING Muslims. For example, it is not okay to praise Bosnian ethnic cleansing or have a page in honor of Slobadon Milosevic

    5. Jillian C. York Avatar

      The United States does not now, nor has it ever, had a Holocaust denial law! That's Europe. Instead, Facebook selectively picks and chooses what rules it wants to enforce.

  3. Nadir El Edroos Avatar

    "Despite the protest of a large number of Muslims, Facebook has failed to remove the blasphemous page from the website"

    It has been removed: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-

    There is no denying that there is a degree of hypocrisy associated with the way Western laws applies to freedom of speech issues. However, again – no one forced you to look up the pages, if you dont like Facebook, or any of the other websites that are blocked then dont use such services.

    Facebook at the same time hosts pages on "We love our Holy Prophet", "Hazrat Muhammad, the greatest man in History" etc, which have many many more members then the offending pages.

    While Facebooks policies may seem hypocritical, its a private company operating in a foreign country. Why would anyone expect them to comply to the norms of another country?

    I am just surprised that we have come down to the level where Hitler and the Holy Prophet are discussed together

    1. Afaq Ahmad Qureshi Avatar
      Afaq Ahmad Qureshi

      The example quoted by Saad Warraich is for comparing the true face of facebook vs. propaganda by the Western media that they uphold 'freedom of speech'; there is no question of comparing the Prophet (pbuh) with any other person in the history of mankind.

    2. Nadir El Edroos Avatar

      Sir, I did not make a comparison, i was commenting on the irony of situating two contrasting individuals in the same paragraph

    3. Nadir El Edroos Avatar

      Sorry, claim that he was making a comparison

  4. Zawad Iftikhar Avatar

    Sad really, how they talk about all the freedom of speech, and when it comes to them, simple won't tolerate.

  5. Faraz Avatar
    Faraz

    Why don't we replicate this? Create more of such pages on Facebook (through fake IDs) and put their policy to test. If a large number of people do this (through p[roxies), they may have to hire dedicated staff to take these pages down. This way of making a statement is still far better then a mindless boycott.

    1. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar

      you don't become an evil to battle an evil.

    2. Nadir El Edroos Avatar

      two wrongs dont make a right

    3. Afaq Ahmad Qureshi Avatar
      Afaq Ahmad Qureshi

      Good suggestion. Let facebook face the music it created.

    4. Faraz Avatar
      Faraz

      I am glad that you said this, unfortunately not everyone see it this way. Case in point were the (feeble) attempts to launch a denial of service attack on these websites through pinging their servers.

      If you are to protest do it in a way that exposes their own hypocrisy. And I am not advocating using any offensive language on these pages. Sadly the pages setup against the draw page were themselves full of hate speech. So, unfortunately while the Pakistanis make a hue and cry when they feel offended they are themselves guilty of offending others.

  6. tahir Avatar
    tahir

    It's a nice article showing true face of Americans and westerners.Freedom of speach,and politics are based on hypocricy.

    We Muslims need to learn that we being Muslims should stand united otherwise they would try to divide us into leftists and rightists

  7. Dr Jhon Avatar

    Ban Face book in every country ………………..Its a waste of time and money specially for our little childern

    1. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar

      The Most realistic comment about any social networking site. Such sites use our kids to earn money.

  8. khalid humayun Avatar

    I admire the act of the author. Knowingly well, that his account would be deleted, which, in my opinion was a predetermined sacrifice, he returned the slap to them that believe in tooth to tooth, nail to nail, cheek to cheek. No worries if the account is closed. Billions of such accounts be sacrificed if the stature of our Prophet Mohammad Sallalaho Alehay Wa Alehey Wassallam is in question. Let the whole world know, no comprise on this issue.

    I have read somewhere by any expert that FB is sustaining monetary losses to the tune of billions due its ban on Pakistani soil. In that, millions abroad are not in contact with Pakistanis through FB. Period. However, we should not fight each other. Without making personal attacks we should try to convince them by logics and reasoning, thats what our religion preaches. May be due to high sentiments this bitter exchange of words occured, nonetheless,at this point in time, sanity must prevail.

  9. Sakib Ahmad Avatar

    When I see members of my family wasting precious time on something as trashy as Facebook, I am filled with loathing for what seems to me to be a demonic invention. However, I am also aware of the wealth of personal information that is held within a Facebook account. I can understand how you must be feeling – my commiserations for your "virtual death".

    I am grateful to you, however, for uncovering the sheer hypocrisy of American society. If only more Pakistanis would shed their slavish mentality and pluck up courage to denounce the lies and deceit that characterise the USA today (and, to a lesser extent, the West generally)! I did my penny's worth, which you can read here:

    http://sakibahmad.blogspot.com/2010/05/british-ge

  10. JKL Avatar
    JKL

    Many of you would be aware of TechCrunh the famous tech blog

    When last year facebook had shown a bit leniency towards the anti-jew content/groups than see how uneasy TechCrunch got over that
    http://techcrunch.com/2009/05/12/facebook-remains

    http://techcrunch.com/2009/05/10/jew-haters-welco

  11. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar

    Being a software engineer If I will make some web site for a public, unintentionally/intentionally I would make such seamless steps which does not violate my religion and country. Mark did same. Being a member of Jewish family he would not let any stuff up which hurts his religion. I respect that but on other hand he does not get license to allow any stuff which hurt others faith.

    jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=369

    1. Silver SLayer Avatar
      Silver SLayer

      Google founders and Facebook founder are

      JEWS!!!

      So make the connection… FREEDOM OF SPEECH… my a**

    2. Silver SLayer Avatar
      Silver SLayer

      Mr. Siddiqui

      I think we may have just entered the last phase of The Arrivals

      Although not authentic nor verified… but it seems to connect

    3. Kathy Avatar
      Kathy

      Sure he does Adnan. Many Muslims will complain over a small slight to Islam while talking about the Jews like the Nazi's did. Many Muslims do exactly what you say- very sensitive to themselves/very insensitive to others

  12. shandana khan Avatar
    shandana khan

    Alhamdulillah

    our govt has banned facebook in pakistan.. i hope they ban it here forever!

    its a waste of time .. vr all trapped in it

    Allah has saved us IA it will b banned forever…

    may Allah punish these evil people for wat they hav done.

  13. Rosa Avatar
    Rosa

    we are so proud of you saad warraich.

  14.  Avatar

    Thanks God you found the reality and now you know FaceBook people are not fair.

    1. Kathy Avatar
      Kathy

      facebook people ARE fair. They don't let Muslims make fun of killing Jews? Well guess what genius- they also don't let people make fun of killing Muslims, slavery, etc. If this wasn't the case there would be HUNDREDS of pages dedicated to making fun of killing YOUR people

    2. Salman Avatar
      Salman

      Kathy, you seem to make a lot of unsuccessful attempts at convincing people. But read the article above, read the contradicting official statements from Facebook, so that you can know that the Facebook ppl are NOT fair!

  15. Aniqa Naz Avatar

    Everyone knows their double standards. This is not a secret and this is not a very new phenomenon. It was better reflected when the issue of Palestine was created by these people.

    So there is nothing new. But, the terrorism in Pakistan and extremism in Pakistan is not as old. Unfortunately, its increasing day by day. We have ruined our country to show our anger to those people who doesn't belong to our religion, to our country. But, till this moment we don't want to accept this.

    Your last para is important, unless we muslims make some concrete changes in our behavior , in our reactions, unless we get capabilities to stand on ourselves, nobody is going to take us seriously.

    Lets see how many months it takes to repeat all this scenario, I am afraid not more than a year, there will be a new wave of something blasphemous.

  16. Sam OWO Avatar
    Sam OWO

    On Wednesday 19th May 2010, the Lahore High Court ordered the banning of Facebook across Pakistan. Facebook is the world's most popular social media network and is used by over 400 million globally. In Pakistan, over 2 million people use Facebook to stay in touch with their friends and family, conduct business, manage events, and share photos, news, and other content. A few days ago, a page called "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" was created on Facebook asking users to submit drawings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on 20th May 2010. This page, interpreted as blasphemous, has triggered a nationwide ban on the entire Facebook domain.

    While we recognize that sites on the Internet are used to spew hatred and incite violence, we steadfastly believe that governments have no right to control access to information. We believe that every citizen has an inalienable right to freely access information and by censoring Facebook, the Government of Pakistan has taken away that right. This action will have a very negative impact on Pakistan, especially considering that countless small businesses, nonprofit organizations, restaurants, art galleries, magazines, and media outlets use Facebook to conduct day-to-day business and share information with their stakeholders.

    In 2006, the Supreme Court of Pakistan banned the entire blogspot.com domain for over 18 months over a similar incident where only one blog carried blasphemous cartoons. Thousands of Pakistani bloggers were deprived of the freedom to express themselves and interact with others. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority now has the ability to block specific pages on the Internet and could have banned just the single blasphemous page. As members of civil society and professionals who depend on social media networks for our daily communications, we demand the immediate restoration of Facebook and an end to Internet censorship by the Government of Pakistan.

  17. Rizwan Ali Avatar
    Rizwan Ali

    Dear Mr. Saad

    have you emailed your story to any media channel ??

    You should do it. Especially foreign media. all of them.

    Some might take up your story.

  18. jane doe Avatar
    jane doe

    I remember the Hitler page you started. You asked people to post things ridiculing or celebrating genocide.

    I did just that- posted cartoons and photos ridiculing genocide AGAINST Muslims.

    Fair is fair. You are a LIAR. Your group would censor anything that praised or ridiculed killing Muslims. Dozens of other Muslims have started fb pages encouraging ridiculing genocide then will delete anything ridiculing genocide AGAINST Muslims and ban people from posting

    I got banned by fb because these Muslims complained that my posts ridiculing genocide AGAINST Muslims were offending him!!

    All fb pages praising Milsosevic, the Gukarat massacres or killing Muslims were closed too. You didn't mention that because you wanted your Muslim readers to falsely think they were victims of double standards

    Will any Pakistani newspaper be willing to publish my cartoons making fun of Muslims killed in the Gujarat massacres? They have no problem in publishing things that make fun of killing Jews. Hypocrits!

    Publish MY cartoons making fun of genocide against Muslims AND demand that facebook do the same!!

    Publish my genocide agiainst Muslim cartoons and demand the other media print them! NO double standards :.)

    ps- I have tried posting this to many Muslim run blogs where this article ran. Then wouldn't do it. Apparently they are worse than fb

    1. Saad Warraich Avatar
      Saad Warraich

      But then Pakistani Media and Pakistani websites do not issue statemets that contradict their own policies, do they? And dude, Pak media is local, Facebook is global. They have a way greater responsibility.

  19. adnan Avatar
    adnan

    Saad, your article is rhetorical and poorly reasoned. The reason your profile was removed is that you were promoting and supporting a man, and consequently, his cause of persecuting, and cleansing the world of a particular ethnic and/or religious group. That unambigously qualifies as spreading hate.

    Drawing cartoons of a prophet (any prophet), while being blasphemous and sacriligous, is not hate speech. Drawing a cartoon of David or Christ will not get your account deactivated, because the terms do not say anything about blashemy.

    We should not project our beliefs on others, as doing so only leaves us vulnerable to countless poking – mostly for amusement. And our knee-jerk reaction is quite amusing to be sure. Banning Facebook is inane and immature – but the mullahs must be happy: it frees up more bandwidth for porn.

    1. Saad Warraich Avatar
      Saad Warraich

      Adnan

      I respect your point of view but if their terms so not talk about blasphemy or if they allow carttons of David or Christ, it doesnt mean that they should turn a deaf ear to what Muslims say hurts them. If 1.2 billion Muslims demand the removal of such pages, they MUST be heard. If the entire Muslims world protested the acts of Danish newspapers in 2005, then it should've been Fcaebook's policy. Why do they ban Nazi content? Because a lot of people object to it. Same reason should be applied here in our case. But on the contrary westerns are allowed and encouraged to hurt Muslims. I don't know about you, but I for one could not take those dirty images on facebook and it filled me with utter disgust.

      And if I was supporting Hitler and violating their rules why did Facebook itself have to say things that contradict their rules? "We allow Nazi content on Facebook and only block it in regions where it is illegal or controversial". I guess they should've extended the same courtesy to Muslims.

  20. Nabeel Avatar

    Like I said before, Saad, I don't agree with glorifying Hitler or questioning history – but I do agree that Facebook's administration has proved itself to be two-faced and hypocritical.

    I am curious – what do you think about Pakistan's bans on Facebook, Youtube, and several Wikipedia pages?

    1. Saad Warraich Avatar
      Saad Warraich

      I hope the post below answers your question 🙂

  21. Saad Warraich Avatar
    Saad Warraich

    Thank you all for your support and appreciation, means a lot to me.

    A couple of points I want to make:

    1. There are people who are in favour of the Facebook ban and those agianst it. Both have come up with valid arguments. I however think that when Pakistan banned it, it sent a very strong message and thats when west got involved. Thats when the whole thing actually came to teh limelight globally. So that was a right step. I really appreciate the High Court, the Government and PTA ovetr this stance. The idea is not to shun ourselves to the world or not being able to cope with this low act. The idea is to record our protest, the idea is to tell the world that this is something we will not tolerate. The idea is to criticize evil.

    2. Freeodm of speech, by the West, has been turned into a tool to launch attack on others. There is no such thing as freedom of speech or expression alone. The right thing is “Freedom of speech, expression and media with ACCOUNTABILITY”. You’re free to express youself only to the extent where this right of yours doesn’t conflict with others’ right to freedom or where it doesn’t hurt others. That is exactly why in law we have torts like Slander and Libel so that people do not needlessly make use of such “freedoms”. Perhaps the westrners need to educate themselves on this.

  22. Zafar Iqbal Avatar

    salam

    I think the campaign against apathy of Facebook admn towards blasphemous pages has been wrogly tracked towards "ban frenzy" as called by someone.

    the more mature solutions at PTA level could have been taken.

    The "more sensitive" issue of essential freedom of speech than blasphemy has enraged the people who are addicted to Fcebook. A few days deprivation is more important in their eyes than to send a strong message( though it may not be so strong).

    can you suggest the ways to make Fcebook admn realise that this act of apathy is too much hurting for "some Muslims".I think Facebook has a policy to remove pages which are hurting…can you convince them as they are very much sensitive to listen all sides being a "civilised" group.I think responsibility now lies on the shoulders of proponents of Facebook rehablitation that to make sure that Facebook will cosider the sentiments of Muslims atleast half as they consider the sentiments of JEWS.,as demanding equal rights for Muslims will be too much…

    zafar iqbal

    فیس بک کے صارفین،شائقین،بلکہ بعض ایک نشہ کی حد تک عادی افراد نے فیس بک انتظامیہ کی پیغمبر اسلام صلعم کی توہین پر مبنی صفحات کو ہٹانے کے حوالہ سے بے حسی کے بعد فیس بک کا استعمال ترک کیا اور پابندی کو بخوشی قبول کیا ہے۔

    فیس بک پر مکمل پابندی مناسب ہے یا نہیں یہ ایک اختلافی مسئلہ ہے اور یقیناُُ ہر مسئلہ کی طرح کئی آراء ہو سکتی ہیں۔ کسی رائے کا مطلب یہ نہیں کہ وہ شخص توہین رسالت پر مبنی صفحات کی بحالی کا بھی حامی ہے۔

    مگر بحالی کے لئے کوشاں افراد کی اب اخلاقی ذمہ داری بھی بنتی ہے کہ وہ فیس بک کی انتظامیہ کو عقلی دلائل سے قائل کریں اور آزادئی اظہار اور آزادئی آزار کا فرق سمجھائیں اور وہ یقیناُُ اس پوزیشن میں ہیں کہ اپنی بات سمجھا سکیں۔کیونکہ فیس بک انتظمیہ کوئی جنونی اور جاہل تو نہیں ۔وہ دل آزار مواد کو خارج کرنے کو اپنے قواعد کا حصہ بتاتی ہے اور اس سہولت سے صرف مسلمانوں کے مذہبی معاملات کو استثنٰی دیا گیاہے۔آخر کیوں ۔اس کا جواب یقیناُُ ہمارے مسلمان بھائی جو فیس بک کی بحالی کے لئے بغیر کسی تنخواہ

    کے کام کر رہے ہیں ،حاصل کر سکتے ہیں۔بغیر تنخواہ آج کل کوئی کام نہیں کرتا ۔آپ اپنا وقت لگا رہے ہیں۔اتنی فیس تو وصول کریں۔اپنے لئے احترام کی فیس۔اسلام اور پیغمر اسلام کے لئے ذلت آمیز مواد سے مستقبل میں بچاؤ کی فیس۔آخر اتنا تو حق بنتا ہے ?۔۔ کیا خیال ہے۔۔۔?

    اب گیند آپ کے کورٹ میں ہے۔ اگر یہ حضرات یہ منوانے میں کامیاب ہو گئے تو اس سے مغربی میڈیا کے مسلمانوں کے ساتھ جانبدارانہ رویہ کی تبدیلی کا آغاز ہو سکتا ہے۔۔۔ورنہ بائیکاٹ گروہ تو کام کر ہی رہاہے۔

  23. Wrangler Avatar

    This is a very well written and directed article but the irony is the readership of such articles remain in our own surroundings and to be more specific the Muslim population. Had it been published at BBC or other effective media there would have been some movement somewhere. Unfortunately as the Muslim World has failed (so far) to effectively communicate their view point to other faiths and countries, this will keep hurting us as a nation and a religion.

  24. Mani Pro Avatar

    Stop Blaming facebook for being one sided :s

    http://www.facebook.com/people/Saad-M-Waraich/796

    this page is still active with 900 + members

    1. Saad Warraich Avatar
      Saad Warraich

      Yes. Bacause after what happened in Denmark in 2005, we want you guys to start respecting others, we don't want to fight fire with fire. And if the page is still there, thats what Facebook says that they do not remove content. But they removed my page and profile, so that IS being one sided.

      By the way I am not the Saad M. Waraich mentioned above, and he inactive link is not the page he created. You've copied the link from the page and tried to merge it with the profile of some Saad M. Warraich who isn't me.

      Try harder if you are to forge stuff.

    2. Silver Slayer Avatar

      Forgery!?! Now it gets down to this

  25. MB Avatar

    The writer of this post, as expected of our typical literates, acted quite childishly, i must say.

    First, kindly understand the WESTern mindset before asking them to customize their thinking for you, just because it offends you.

    There is a difference between A PERSON (prophet in this case) and an EVENT (holocaust).

    They are using their right "TO DRAW" not considering what its outcome will be since their constitution allows them to. The event of HOLOCAUST is universally known to be for its ugly aspect. You cannot make fun of THE KILLING OF PEOPLE and it cannot be allowed, according to their constitution.

    So comparison of DRAWING PROPHET and THEIR HOLOCAUST is a wrong one, to begin with. They treat this issue like, you can draw me too, but you cannot make fun of one's killing.

    The problem with "us" not "them". Just because we are muslims who have a different mindset about our religion we want the whole world to see our religion from our POINT OF VIEW. And if they have a law or culture or mindset which does not suite our ideology, we want them to CUSTOMIZE it to suit our sensitivities. This attitude is one of self deception and nothing else.

    And like the very first commentator in this post said, if you do not agree to FB attitude, no one is focring you to login to FB. But who has given a group of people or PTA or GOV to stop others from login to it. If i am offended by FB attitude i will myself not use it or at least not go to that page.

    Our attitude is like, we should be heard and also followed else we will resort to "badmashi".

    And this is childishness of highest order.

    The writer of the post has exposed himself stupidly by telling his reader everything, i.e. he wanted to create a FB group to offend the other party. So FB is quite right to remove his account. Why FB did not remove the objectionable group of DRAW MOHAMMAD DAY , is a completely different question.

    a simple example is this:

    If i ask the gov to give me a pistol to defend myself, they will give me but if i tell them i need it to kill someone, i will not be given the pistol. Now if i say that this is injustice because some XYZ person also had pistol but he killed someone, my argument is nothing but stupidity.

    The fact that mr XYZ killed someone is different, it is misuse of power. And will be dealt differently then someone like me who is asking a pistol and telling them that i need it to kill someone.

    another example:

    It is my right to do whatever i want to do INSIDE my home. Any person who is coming from outside can not say i should change my home-culture or mindset because some behaviours of the people living in home offend him/her. If the person who is coming from outside is not happy with what is going inside home, then he better stay outside, no one is forcing him to come in and have a look at things and then get offended.

    Now if the person comes inside the home but starts making fun of an even that happened inside home some years back in which one person of the family killed few others, THIS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to that person.

    Same is the case with our issue. The west considers drawing as an important part of their culture. In muslim and islamic ideology there are already dozen of differences on TO DRAW or NOT TO DRAM issue. FB is forcing no one to come to its home and live in it. So let those who want to come, come and those who dont like the culture of that home stay outside.

    1. Saad Warraich Avatar
      Saad Warraich

      My dear MB

      Firstly, I’d like to inform you that my page was not about holocaust. It did not use the word holocaust, it did not say that it happened or not and it did not justify the killings of millions. It was a Hitler fan page and I personally praise Hitler because I believe he was a good administrator.

      Under the circumstances there isn’t much difference between the person and the event. They do not want us or anyone to talk about Hitler or holocaust because millions of their people died and when someone praises Hitler or Nazis, it hurts them. So when they do things like drawing our Prophet it hurts us too. It hurts hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide but somehow that goes unnoticed.

      Its not only about drawing or drawing back. Now you may not have a problem with me drawing you but if I drew a camel’s genitals up your backside, you perhaps wouldn’t like it, or would you? That is not something that comes from their culture or something they are fond of, that comes from sheer hate and urge to mock Muslims and hurt them.

      As for the point of view and who wants the other to adopt whose, I’ll tell you what. Westerners cannot stand someone praising Hitler and yet they target Muslims over these cartoons, which they know hurts the Muslims. Yet they say that its ok to draw and that Muslims should not mind it. They try to convince that a person is different from an event and should not be seen as the same thing. This, my friend, is one huge example that it is THEM who want us to adopt THEIR viewpoint. They are trying to tell us that we should give up the idea of being offended of seeing our Prophet in low and disgusting drawings and quit our moral and religious beliefs.

      “You can draw me too but cannot make fun of one’s killing”, that is exactly what I’m talking about. Their idea that they are trying to impose!! Now in response to that I have a better solution and that is not based on my or other Muslims’ view point. Do not draw one particular person if it hurts billions and do not make fun of killings if it hurts another lot. Now this viewpoint is based on basic mannerism and should be adopted by every sane person without having to worry about adopting someone else’s point of view.

      No sir, you are sadly mistaken, we do not impose our points of view here, we only expect others to be respectful.

      Now let’s come to joining Facebook. Facebook is a social networking website and through it I can be connected to hundreds of people I know and Facebook has existence in my country and I have every right to join it. It does not mean that if I accept their rules and regulations I should stick by them even when my religion is being targeted. Would Facebook alter its rules for me if I threatened not to join it? No it wouldn’t. So that means I had no bargaining power when I made my account and as per the law of contract this very fact makes the contract null and void. I ask you a question in reference to your example of “my house and freedom to do anything in it”. Why is Facebook criticizing Pakistan for blocking it? Why do they say they would sue the Government of Pakistan? Isn’t it “Our house”? Whatever happened to the freedom to do anything in our own house! Why do the westerners blame us then for not fighting their war on terror? After all as per your logic we are free to do anything we want here. Why do they impose their point of view? Why do they interfere then? So much for “badmashi”!!

      And in case you failed to find out, the idea by creation of Hitler page was not primarily to hurt them, but to get a reaction, to show that the playing field isn’t level, to tell them that if THAT is freedom of expression, so is this!

      I disagree with you my friend. The problem is not with US. We as a nation do not bomb their countries, we do not invade them, we do not occupy their oil reserves by force, we do not have Cubas and Gitmos where all humanity is thrown out of the window in every sense of the word, we do not turn living cities into heaps of ruins by our atom bombs, we do not oust governments that don’t comply and we do not kill peoples’ leaders.

      Respect us and we will respect you.

  26. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar

    To the ignorant commenter above named MB, Facebook even banned the breast feeding photos by rating them as "Nude". So is Child Porn so your shallow argument about difference between a Personality like the Prophet(saw) and Event does not make any sense here

  27. MB Avatar

    @Saad

    [ Under the circumstances . . . . . worldwide but somehow that goes unnoticed ]

    So if your "hurt" logic is to be applied why not PAK gov ban slaughtering cow as it also "hurts" the sentiments of hindu's ? (and thank GOD Ahmed Nadeem picked this point in his post )?

    [ Its not only about drawing or . . . . . . backside, you perhaps wouldn’t like it, or would you? ]

    So according to your above logic, you have no PROBLEM with them drawing PROPHET in positive manner, its only that drawing him negatively offends you, right ? since i would be offended for same reason else i (or you) for this matter are happy if someone draw us showing something GOOD about us.

    [ They are trying to tell that we should give up the idea of being offended of seeing our Prophet . . ]

    mere bhai , where they are saying you to do ANYTHING? Kindly quote them here with proof. They are only saying its their right to do, if you get offended its not their business. You can stop going to their countries or websites etc. But why you want them to accommodate "your views" in their system? They can whatever they want to , even if its WRONG in your opinion. Similarly, those in PAK who think they are fine with this SYSTEM, let them use it and those who are offended, its obvious wont go to that country/website themselves.

    [ . . Their idea that they are trying to impose!! . . ]

    They are imposing nothing on YOU. Its their idea, their country, their website, they can put a ban on scarf, or minaret etc. even if it looks unjust to you. You want "equality" in respect because you have a DIFFERENT DEFINITION OF RIGHT and WRONG (RIGHT and WRONG and subjective matters in such cases, In your society even watching TV was/is "unislamic" once(even now) and if a MUSLIM in WEST would ask his society to NOT watch TV because he things its WRONG or seeming half-naked woman on streets offends his sentiments, what you think the WEST would respond to this sort of person? They would rightly kick him out of their country). Plus, Unfortunately, their advantage is, its their product. If you think its a wrong product, DONT USE it simple!!.

    Your failure to understand their mind-set is the root of the problem my friend. If they start "accommodating" your views in their society then tomorrow the mullaz will incite

    people to start protesting on WESTern streets to ban public eating of FOOD during ramadan because it "hurts" the sentiments of MUSLIMS, and then you will ask them to build mosques for you or let you build mosques anywhere you want to "ON THE BASIS OF EQUALITY" and then next day you will ask them to have Namaz timings in their offices for you on the basis of EQUALITY of RELIGIONS etc.

    Dude, this will go on and on . . . The bottom line is, if you think your OPINION is right then you have to "ENGAGE" the second party and try to convince him on your view, especially when they have an upper hand and its their country and their laws and their product. If you hide and lock yourself in your room closing eyes hoping they will stop doing it , then you are living in fool's paradise as this is DISENGAGEMENT and not ENGAGEMENT.

    Its like you want me to do something but you dont want to talk to me . . . . so go ahead, dont talk to them, they are not dying to hear us either.

    [Now let’s come to joining Facebook. . . . . makes the contract null and void ]

    Null and void na ? bas kahani khatam . .

    so ye matam kis cheez ka hy phir hamari qoam ki taraf se ?

    They didnt care about your sentiments and now that the CONTRACT is NULL-VOID so whats the fuss? You better curse yourself for a wrong decision . . You knew you had no bargaining POWER when you made the account, why you made it?

    [I ask you a question in reference to your example of “my house and freedom to do anything in it. . . So much for “badmashi”!!]

    First send me the URL of the news in which FB has criticized PAK.And also the URL to "sue the PAK gov"

    Second, even if they are criticizing us, let them so, why we bother as i still hold my "MY HOUSE MY RIGHT" logic. PAK gov can easily tell them the same that its our right so we are blocking.

    Further, the above case is FB vs PAK gov etc.

    The issue we are facing is GROUP A (ban support) vs GROUP B (not support ban) INSIDE PAK.

    Let those who want to view view it and those who get offended wont view it automatically, so this USELESS FUSS.

    Further, the 3% minorities, suppose they say they want to view those URL where the drawings are present so why their right is being suppressed? especially when The constitution gives them equal rights and they have no affiliation with our PROPHET too,. Why they should NOT BE allowed to view those drawings as it hurts only "US the PAK muslims" not "them the 3%".

    As for you views on WAR ON TERROR and GITMO and OCCUPATIONS. I will reply on some other post else we will divert from main topic. But i will only reply this much that "aap itney masoom nahi hain ki aap ko fazul mei jootay par rahey hain". There is a reason why you are in trouble. Look into your collar, the answer is there. I think HASSAN NISAR has beautifully summarized it here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmQ-vgAx6-0

    PEACE

  28. PB Avatar
    PB

    @Saad … "Despite the fact that there exists no proof of the holocaust and no evidence that six million Jews died in concentration camps during WWII, let’s just imagine that it did happen." …

    I just want you to answer that you really believe this ???

    Being a fan of Hitler is one thing but to question a historical event's authenticity is something completely different. And its because of the latter that I can only wish you a Speedy Recovery. Get well soon my friend.

  29. Aamir Mughal Avatar

    Why didn’t they chopped the Head off/or stoned him to death for a crime [Rape's punishment is Death] Child molester forced to walk naked in Malakand bazaar Saturday, May 29, 2010 By our correspondent http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=241… DARGAI: A teacher of a Jamaat-e-Islami-run Madrassa was forced to walk naked in the bazaar on the charge of molesting a minor in Sakhakot area in Malakand Agency on Friday as the party leaders refuted the allegation and termed it part of a conspiracy.

  30. fahad Avatar

    what facebook did was unethical whether in d US or anywhere in d world..they violated thier own rules..they should respect all religion and all races…

    even i was once promoting my blog and got my account disabled within 10 minutes…

    facebook is using us and i got a fwd email about facts of facebook and the real story ..i can upload it somewehere or u guys can email me and il forward it to u

    my email is fhdahmed90@gmail.com

  31. Solomon2 Avatar

    "Despite the fact that there exists no proof of the holocaust -"

    I checked: no Pakistani historian has visited the Holocaust archives in Germany, America, or Israel. Those interested can start by contacting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

    "how is it that Hitler is termed as the most evil person in the history of mankind while those that bomb Muslims, commit heinous crimes -"

    Since you are severely misinformed about easily-checkable history, it is entirely logical that your grasp of current events is skewed incorrectly as well, isn't it? What will you do about that?