Censorship in South Asia

Censorship in South Asia can apply to books, movies, the Internet and other media. Censorship occurs on religious, moral and political grounds, which is controversial in itself as the latter especially is seen as contrary to the tenets of democracy, in terms of freedom of speech and the right to freely criticise the government.

Censorship by country

Bangladesh

Several books of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin have been banned in Bangladesh and West Bengal [http://taslimanasrin.com/tn_bannedbooks.html] .

In June 2006, the government of Bangladesh issued a restraining order preventing Sigma Huda, U.N. special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, from leaving the country to deliver a key report on trafficking before the Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 11, 2007. [http://newsblaze.com/story/20070608095430leon.nb/topstory.html] U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has asked Bangladesh to clarify corruption charges against a U.N. human rights investigator, which will prevent her from addressing the main U.N. rights body. [http://in.today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=uri%3A2007-06-08T004113Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-302050-1.xml] The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women issued a statement calling this "an outrage and a violation of her right to freedom of movement and freedom of speech." [http://newsblaze.com/story/20070608095430leon.nb/topstory.html]

India

Several books critical of religion have been banned in India or in parts of India. India was the second country in the world to ban "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie. The book "Understanding Islam through Hadis" by Ram Swarup was also banned. Pornography is illegal and media depicting sex are frequently cut.

Pakistan

The Pakistani government has banned the import of Indian films, leaving piracy as the only way to distribute them. [http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=232370&sid=ENT&ssid=1]

The Freedom House, which monitors freedom of speech, has placed Pakistan among countries where the press is “Not Free” in 2004 and 2005. [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-4-2005_pg7_36]

In early March 2006, the government had all websites hosted at the popular blogging service Blogger.com [http://www.dawn.com.pk/2006/03/03/nat1.htm blocked] . Millions of websites from all over the world are hosted at blogspot, along with thousands of Pakistani ones. This step by the government is possibly due to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, as some blogspot websites put up copies of the cartoons.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has blocked Tamilnet as it is seen as a Pro-LTTE news website. Further the government spokesman has said that he is looking to hire hackers to disable Tamilnet. Tamilnet has been producing news about the Sri Lankan civil war focusing in the North and the East of the country. cite web
last =
first =
title =Popular Tamil website 'blocked'
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6221844.stm
accessdate = 2007-06-21 .] cite web
last =
first =
title =Sri Lanka seeks hackers to down pro-Tiger website
url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070620/wl_sthasia_afp/srilankaunrestinternetmediacensorship_070620095034
accessdate = 2007-06-21 .] cite web
last =
first =
title =Sri Lanka seeks hackers to down pro-Tiger website
url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/20/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka-Media-Freedom.php
accessdate = 2007-06-21 .]

See also

*Banned books
*Banned films
*Salman Rushdie
*Media bias in South Asia
*International Freedom of Expression Exchange

References

External links

;India
* [http://voiceofdharma.com/books/ayodhya/ch12.htm Book banning in India]
* [http://www.voi.org/indology/eminenthistorians1.html Arun Shourie on "Eminent historians"]

;Sri Lanka
* [http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/article.php3?id_article=1618 Media in Sri Lanka]
* [http://www.ifj-asia.org/page/sri_lanka1.html Free Speech in Sri Lanka]