Pakistan president Asif Zardari bans jokes ridiculing him
Pakistan's president, Asif Zardari, has been accused of suffering from a sense of humour failure after banning jokes ridiculing him.
Pakistanis who send jokes about Asif Zardari by text message, email or blog risk being arrested and given a 14-year prison sentence.
The country's interior minister, Rehman Malik, announced the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been asked to trace electronically transmitted jokes that "slander the political leadership of the country" under the new Cyber Crimes Act.
Mr Malik, said the move would punish the authors of "ill motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against the civilian leadership".
The step, which was described by human rights groups as "draconian and authoritarian", came after government was particularly riled by a barrage of caustic jokes being sent to the presidency's official email.
Critics have accused the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), a party that espouses a liberal agenda, of stooping as low as the former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, who took television broadcasters off air when he faced political opposition.
Mr Zardari, the widower of the assassinated former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, has long courted controversy.
During his wife's two tenures he earned the nickname of "Mr 10 per cent" on account of his alleged penchant for demanding kickbacks on government contracts.
A former polo-playing playboy, Mr Zardari has proved to be prickly about what others say of him since he was elected as president by the national parliament a year ago.
Most of the criticism stems from his government's inability to address problems such as severe power outages and inflation, and his inability to shake off old allegations of corruption.
Mr Zardari's thin-skin when it comes to jokes has forced Pakistanis to find other ways to refer to the president, with nicknames ranging from "dacu" or "bandit" to chief choor, meaning thief.
The ban has become the focus of intense television debate in Pakistan, as Mr Zardari's aides have attempted to justify the move using every argument ranging from counter-terrorism concerns to saying that women parliamentarians had received abusive messages.
The prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, with whom Mr Zardari has clashed, has distanced himself from the ban saying that it would not be enforced.
Mr Zardari's PPP-led government tried to target text messages and emails last month when it levied a new tax on all text messages.
The tax was abandoned after it emerged that it would ruin a major source of revenue for Pakistan's five mobile phone companies.
As soon as the tax was announced, a text message began making the rounds saying: "The government has imposed a tax on all messages. This means that until now President Zardari was getting abused for free. Now he'll get paid every time someone abuses him!"
Zardari jokes:
* "Terrorists have kidnapped our beloved Zardari and are demanding $5,000,000 or they will burn him with petrol. Please donate what you can. I have donated five litres."
* To commemorate the ascension to the Presidency, Pakistan Post has officially launched a new stamp. But the people of Pakistan are confused which side on the stamp to spit on.
* Robber: "Give me all your money!"
Zardari: "Don't you know who I am? I am Asif Ali Zardari."
Robber: "OK. Give me all my money"
The author said in this blog that President, Asif Ali Zardari is failed to lead the country and he had lost his sence of humour.. I think that Desta Bishu is not known by the problems of Pakistan and what President Zardari is doing for the people of Pakistan..
Being a patriotic National i am afraid about our future, when i see the atrocities and the present situation around me. We do not think about our country / our surroundings ,our difficulties, our real problems instead of all these phenamenas we run towards artificialities. We waste our energies in making propagandas against our Government through cyber and telecom aand show that all the governmentel institutions are in deep sleep but do not consider ourself as an individual not an integral part of society. It is well settled law that individuals make society and society builds nation. What i see and feel is that we are playing a blame game. We all like to remove the dust from our own shoulders and put the responsibility and liability on another person. Most of us don't even realize what our responsibility and obligation is towards our homeland. We think now everything is the predicament of the present government. Therefore we can easily put the blame on the government and accuse the policy makers for the deficiency of power supply and water shortage but have we ever pause and pondered over our usage and consumption of both these resources.
We never realize our own mistakes. We are not brave enough to analyze our behaviours and questions our actions. We become so nonchalant when we see water overflowing from our water tanks, we don't even realize that the water we waste while washing and bathing by opening the taps to there maximum can quench the thirst of some poor people who wait all day long for few drops of water. Do we dare question ourselves when we leave a mountain of light bulbs or fancy lights on just for the decoration/beutification of our lawns and balconies? Do we think when we leave our cell fone chargers plugged in the switches and don't even realize that it continues to consume electricty. No we don't because we don't have to think as we can afford such luxuries. We are the rich people of a poor country.
We are a nation who doesn't know how to respect their own decisions and picks. We choose our government ourselves and than go against it. We insult and humilitate the government, we select by voting through the propaganda i had mentioned above. We have become so impatient that we cannot even put our trust in our government. Most of our Youth that is the future of Pakistan is wasting their resources in non-constructive things.
We are also busy thinking about who we are, Balochi,Sindhi,Punjabi or Pakhtoon. We all were supposed to be Pakistanis but unfortunately we have forgotten that bit of it. Now the latest consciousness is to have atlease five independant and seperate states out of Pakistan. It's a shame to see that we cannot break the shackles of provincial identities even after 63 years of Independence. We need to joilt our individual and consciousness. Its high time now and we should come out of these prejudices and narrow-mindedness. It's the need of the hour that we should realize that first of all we are Pakistanis rather than sub-dividing our nation and solidarity. We should realize our responsibilities and admit our mistakes..
We need to think and alter ourselves as an individual rather than blaming the government elected by our own. We need to initiate the change right from the grass root level. If the change has to come, it should being from me. Stop making propaganda, think positive and make this nation as peacefull as u can individually. The first step towards the change is to alter the "Man/Women in the mirror"
" I sujjest u to read the above article and then comment about President Zardari, He is doing his best to give Pakistan electiricity,save Pakistan from Talibanization,Feed the poor peoples,Shelter the homeless. What else he can do being a President?? But the one thing he can't do is stopping character assasination.. As there are some groups who are trying to make propaganda against him via sms and blogs.. Its a request to you that make articles with full information of what you are going to write.. As a true lover of Pakistan, I appreciate the act of President to punish the people who try to make such sms and bloggs. We need peacefull Pakistan and we let the government to do their work instead of making such jokes about Government.
Pakistan Zindabad.. Pakistan Payendabad..!
Best Regards..!
Farhad Ahmed Jarral
30 Jul 09 at 7:27 am
There is gigantic misinterpretation of cyber crime act. World wide exaggeration is in progress for proposed cyber crime act imposition in Pakistan. In fact President of Pakistan did not ban jokes against him. Politicians well know how to tackle criticism. Cyber crime act would help to bust those networks which are spreading frustration and chaos among common people by disseminating wrong information about highly placed individuals and institutions. These agents of instability must be tackled with severe hands.
Huma Safdar
30 Jul 09 at 7:52 am
There is always a difference between criticism and propaganda. What the PPP and President Zardari today confront is not criticism, its propaganda. Ranging from political assaults to character molestation. History is evident of the fact that the enemies of PPP have either resorted to "Assasinating" our leadership, or raging a filthy propaganda. They do not have the moral courage to confront the Largest Political Force of Pakistan politically.
Three popularly elected Prime Ministers have been killed within 2 Km of GHQ? Is this a mere coincidence? Being very impartial with my political inclinations, Im utterly amazed how Asif Zardari is being "personaly" ridiculed. No dictator or even a Bastard like "Zia" has ever been spoken of like this.. Whatever, the political differences ought to be countered politically. But again, political parties like PML-N and Jamaat-e-Islami, who are themselves "illegitimate children" of Pakistan Army and the establishment are politically impotent. With PML-N MPAs raping women and stealing credit cards: Why is there sheer silence? There is a difference between criticism and propaganda.
When we talk about GDP and Stock Exchanges, we have to look at least ten years back. When the Generals came to power in 99 with a humiliating defeat at Kargil, PML-N split to shoulder a draconian regime for 9 years. NAB was made to fabricate politically motivated cases against Benazir Bhutto and Zardari. I have one question. Benazir and Zardari both come from Land Lord Families of Post Partition era. Can the Generals justify their assets rocketing to billions of dollars? Generals and their stooges brutally raped this economy for 9 years and this nation was sleeping. Generals sold our people to the US for mere $5000 a piece, this nation remained silent. Not a single MW of power was generated, this nation remained silent ( Thanks to the Benazir's Government in 1995 that installed IPPs to fulfill our energy need right throughout the last decade}. Balochistan was treated brutally for 10 years, this nation remained silent. This mullah-military alliance fostered a monster of terrorism for 25 years, this nation remained silent.
Now when the policies of last 10 years reflect their ugly face. The Generals are back to the barracks. Purified and dignified. Despite their hands red with Benazir's blood. Waiting in silence to strike when this foolish nation gives them another opportunity. And this opportunity will itself surface as we weaken our political and democratic set-up … Read Morewith our own hands. Believe me, Pakistan Army Pvt Ltd is a bunch of vultures. A worse democracy is better than the best dictatorship. The current Army operation in Sawat was only possible because of this poitical government. Otherwise, its a well known joke that Pakistan Army is more Taliban than Talibans.
We must let this democratic set-up run. With all its faults, its a process which will ultimately deliver in the future.
I am of the opinion, let the democracy take roots. and let us see tf this govt brings down electricity shortage down to a minimum by december 2009.
We are a confused nation. It took Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto more than one and a half decade to shape an independent foreign policy in the history of Pakistan. This so called "Anti-American" nation sent him to the gallows at the price of dollars that influxed during the Afghan Jihad. Eleven years later, Benazir Bhutto got a Pakistan steeped in American Slavery. And things havent been the same since Soviet Broke apart. It is a uni-polar world after 1990. Pakistani people and its Generals alike are responsible for "The New World Order".
Let there be no doubt, democracy has never been given a fair chance to strengthen its foundations. We have a living example of India before us. Jawaharlal Nehru shouldered the democratic India for almost 20 Years. With the passage of time India emerged as one of the most successful and strong democracies around the world. The pace of economic improvement is directly proportional to peace and stability on the political front. It si time we strengthen the hands of our government to hope for fruitful results in the future.
M Usama Kabbir
30 Jul 09 at 11:14 am