Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan said on Saturday they will press ahead with a dialogue to build ties shattered by the Mumbai carnage after talks in Islamabad ended in an acrimonious stalemate. Skip related content

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• Pakistan FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi (right) and his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna Enlarge photo
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Have your say: Pakistan

The statements came after a visit by Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna to Islamabad ended Friday on a sour note over what his counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said was India's "selective focus on terror".

The dialogue process "must go on" despite the chilly atmosphere, the Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.

"There is a gap in perception... but these are not unbridgeable divides," Rao said, but she underscored strongly that action by Islamabad to counter Islamic militant threats against India remained New Delhi's top concern.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan also wanted the talks process to continue.

"We want dialogues, they (India) too want dialogues so when there will be talks then we will discuss all issues," Gilani told reporters at Baloki, near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

However, Rao told India's NDTV network a "terror machine" directed against India involving "state and non-state actors" continues to exist in Pakistan.

"Serious introspection is required by Pakistan into why terror has been used as an instrument of policy against India," she said.

Islamabad also needs to understand "why terror threatens the very fabric of Pakistan itself," Rao said, referring to the slew of deadly attacks in the country blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Rao's comments echoed statements on the eve of the talks by India's Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, whose accusations that Pakistan's intelligence service coordinated the Mumbai attacks cast a long shadow over the Islamabad meeting.

India's newspapers, meanwhile, on Saturday blamed Pakistan for creating the talks deadlock.

The Economic Times accused Islamabad of pushing ties "off the diplomatic rails... by sidelining New Delhi's main demand for action" against the Islamic militant perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead.

The Hindustan Times said Pakistan had engaged in "ambush diplomacy" by insisting on a timeframe to resolve such thorny issues as the row over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which has triggered two of three wars between the nations.

Qureshi on Friday accused India of "narrowing down the talks" by focusing exclusively on militancy rather than the range of disputes between the countries, including Kashmir and water rights.

He said Pakistan wanted the discussions to lead to creation of a "roadmap" for better relations.

Despite the failure to improve ties, Qureshi and Krishna agreed to meet again in New Delhi later in the year.

"What happened (in the talks) was unfortunate but they have to remain engaged, they have no viable option because the issues that bedevil their relationship are so complex," Uday Bhaskar, security analyst and head of the India's National Maritime Foundation think-tank, told AFP.

India and Pakistan's premiers met in April on the sidelines of a summit in Bhutan and set in motion the process of trying to revive contacts.

The thaw has been encouraged by Western allies, in particular by the United States, which sees regional stability as crucial to winning the war in Afghanistan and has pushed Pakistan to fight Taliban insurgents

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Bulger has shown how hard it can be to capture a criminal. The FBI has pursued Bulger for more than a decade for his alleged roles in numerous murders. His wealth is estimated between $30 million and $50 million and he has associated with major criminal enterprises throughout North America and Europe, including the Irish Republican Army. There have been rumors of Bulger being in Sicily and, recently, Canada. He is believed to be on the run with his longtime girlfriend, using the wealth and contacts he developed through his criminal operations to stay out of the reach of law enforcement. 8. Joseph Kony The head of the Lord's Resistance Army, a guerrilla group trying to establish a theocratic government, Kony has driven the killing of civilians in Uganda and, more recently, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Under Kony the LRA has displaced 2 million people and Kony has directed the abduction of 60,000, including 30,000 children, forcing them to fight in his campaign of murder, rape, mutilation and sexual slavery. He reputedly forces children to murder their own parents as part of their initiation into his group. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest, indicting Kony on 33 charges, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. 7. Felicien Kabuga The most wanted man in Africa is accused of being the key financier behind one of the worst genocides in human history. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is seeking Kabuga for "serious offenses under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, crimes against humanity and genocide," in connection with the massacre of over 800,000 Rwandan men, woman and children in 100 days of terror in 1994. A U.S. official recently said the rich businessman was hiding in Kenya, but the Kenyan government strongly denied it. Last month Rwanda commemorated 16 years since the genocide, but 11 important perpetrators of the killings are still at large. Kabuga's radio station incited violence against Rwanda's Tutsi population. He also provided transportation, and machetes and hoes that were used as weapons. 6. Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov Originally from Uzbekistan, Tokhtakhounov is a big-time Russian mobster known as "Taiwanchik" for his Asian features. The U.S. government calls him a "major figure in international Eurasian Organized Crime" who has been involved in "drug distribution, illegal arms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles." He is suspected of fixing everything from beauty pageants to Olympic events in Utah. In 2002 the U.S. government indicted him for bribing Olympic figure skating judges. The U.S. tried to get him after he was arrested in Italy, but the Italians eventually freed Tokhtakhounov. 5. Matteo Messina Denaro The Italian mafia remains the most famous organized criminal group, and Matteo Messina Denaro has taken control of it. Denaro, nicknamed "Diabolic," was only emerging as a leader of the Italian mafia following the capture of Bernardo Provenzano when Denaro appeared on the first Forbes Most Wanted list two years ago. Since then arrests of other top mafia men leave no doubt that he is the new boss. The Italian mafia's playboy, Denaro is known for living a fast lifestyle, driving Porches and fancying Rolex watches. Mafia Inc. is believed to have done very well amid Italy's economic downturn and has been described as Italy's biggest corporation. On the flip side, Italian authorities have recently been making some high-profile arrests, including that of Denaro's brother. 4. Semion Mogilevich The face of Russian organized crime was briefly arrested in 2008 in Russia amid accusations of tax evasion at a cosmetics retailer. As a result he was excluded from Forbes' first Most Wanted list. His lawyers said Mogilevich was innocent of the tax charges, and he was released in 2009. The U.S. has asked that he be handed over in connection with a $150 million stock fraud, but with no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Russia, there seems little chance of it. "We didn't look at this as purely a financial fraud but one of many activities of an organized crime group," says FBI Special Agent Michael Dixon, who adds Mogilevich has been linked to allegations ranging from murder-for-hire to weapons trafficking to possibly trafficking in nuclear materials. Mogilevich has denied such accusations. 3. Dawood Ibrahim The most wanted man in India has for years led a 5,000-member criminal syndicate known as D-Company. The organized crime group has engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates. Ibrahim shares smuggling routes with al Qaeda, the U.S. government says, and has collaborated with both al Qaeda and its South Asian affiliate, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, possibly with Ibrahim's help. Ibrahim is suspected of having organized the 1993 Bombay bombings that killed 257 people and wounded 713. Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties to the powerful intelligence service. 2. Joaquin Guzman The world's most notorious drug trafficker continues to become more powerful. Over the last two years he has extended his control over corridors in Mexico used to smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. Many of Guzman's rivals have fallen or been weakened amid the bloody war between the Mexican army and the cartels, which has resulted in thousands of deaths. Known as el Chapo, or shorty, Guzman heads Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. The U.S. government has indicted Guzman and placed a $5 million bounty on his head. He escaped from prison in 2001 after Mexican courts ruled he could be extradited to the U.S. 1. Osama bin Laden The most wanted man in the world has managed for eight years to avoid the largest manhunt in history. He is assumed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas, but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said in recent months that the U.S. does not have good intelligence on Bin Laden's whereabouts and it might be years before he is caught. Bin Laden is widely believed to be the man behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but he was first indicted in the U.S. in connection with a 1995 truck bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed Americans and for his role in the 1998 U.S embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. State Department is still offering $25 million for information leading to his capture.  

One Facebook, Two Faces [One is Real Ugly]

By Saad Mustafa Warraich, Karachi - Pakistan

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'.
Facebook's reply for my inquiry was as following (also shown in above screenshot):
Hi Saad,
After reviewing your situation, we have determined that your violated our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. 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.
Kimmie
User Operations,
Facebook
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 not removed 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."
While, in another instance, Facebook replied me in entirely different way. Excerpt and screenshot is given above.
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 whileYahoo 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.
 

Pakistan blocks access to YouTube in internet crackdown

Page last updated at 15:04 GMT, Thursday, 20 May 2010 16:04 UK

Many Pakistanis are angry at the 'Draw Muhammad' competition

Pakistan has blocked the popular video sharing website YouTube because of its "growing sacrilegious content".

Access to the social network Facebook has also been barred as part of a crackdown on websites seen to be hosting un-Islamic content.

On Wednesday a Pakistani court ordered Facebook to be blocked because of a page inviting people to draw images of the Prophet Muhammad.

Some Wikipedia pages are also now being restricted, latest reports say.

Correspondents say it remains to be seen how successful the new bans will be in Pakistan and whether citizens find a way round them.

Because YouTube is a platform for free expression of all sorts, we take great care when we enforce our policies.

YouTube says it is "looking into the matter and working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible". The site was briefly blocked in Pakistan in 2008 - ostensibly for carrying material deemed offensive to Muslims.

Facebook said on Wednesday that the content did not violate its terms.

There have been protests in several Pakistani cities against the Facebook competition.

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority said it had ordered internet service providers to "completely shut down" YouTube and prevent Facebook from being viewed within Pakistan.

It said the move came only after "all possible avenues" within its jurisdiction had been used.

Analysis

Countries, companies and even individuals can easily block various websites if they choose. China has a notorious firewall in place to control internet activity and many Western organisations choose to block access to social networks in the office.

In this case, Pakistan will probably have instructed its internet service providers (ISPs) to prevent any pages containing the phrase "youtube.com" in the address from loading on web browsers.

There are various ways of implementing a block and sometimes it can go awry - Pakistan accidentally pulled YouTube offline around the world in 2008 when it tried to implement an internal ban by "hijacking" the youtube.com address in order to re-direct links to a different page.

There are also ways to duck underneath a ban - most commonly by accessing the internet via a "proxy" server based abroad. This can fool an ISP into thinking a computer is actually based in another country and therefore not subject to the ban.

"Before shutting down (YouTube), we did try just to block particular URLs or links, and access to 450 links on the internet were stopped," said PTA spokesman Khurram Ali Mehran.

"But the blasphemous content kept appearing so we ordered a total shut down."

A YouTube spokesperson said: "YouTube offers citizens the world over a vital window on cultures and societies and we believe people should not be denied access to information via video.

"Because YouTube is a platform for free expression of all sorts, we take great care when we enforce our policies. Content that violates our guidelines is removed as soon as we become aware of it."

The controversy began with the Facebook feature called "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day". Depictions of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam.

A message on the item's information page said it was not "trying to slander the average Muslim".

"We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Muhammad depictions that we're not afraid of them."

The page contains drawings and caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and characters from other religions, including Hinduism and Christianity.

"Such malicious and insulting attacks hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world and cannot be accepted under the garb of freedom of expression," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said about the page.

Facebook said in a statement that it would take action if any content "becomes an attack on anyone, including Muslim people", but that in this case its policies were not violated.

"Facebook values free speech and enables people to express their feelings about a multitude of topics, even some that others may find .distasteful or ignorant," the statement said.

A hotline has been set up in Pakistan, asking members of the public to phone in if they see offensive material anywhere.

Islamic parties say they are planning nationwide protests in Pakistan.

Five people were killed in the country in 2006 during violent demonstrations following publication of Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper.

Dear All for immediate attention.     Please Be Extremely Careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning direct from both Microsoft and Norton. Please send it to everybody you know who has access to the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation 'Life is beautiful.' If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES , and delete it immediately. If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: 'It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful.' Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password. This is a new virus which started to circulate on Tuesday  afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the antivirus software's are not capable of destroying it. The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself 'life owner.' PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS and ask them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tCAffMSWSzY#t=28