You may all have come across the news that PTA (Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority) is contemplating to enforce a law that would result in the ban of using over 1600 words that PTA has deemed obscene or vulgar.
For some this may seem as a strong move to get rid of vulgarity and crudeness, but for me it seems to be a pointless and a baseless decision that would do more harm than good.
Not only would it will be an extremely difficult task for the local mobile service providers to implement the decision but it would also be next to impossible for the users not to use some of those fairly innocent words.
The list contains fairly innocuous words such as glazed donut, tongue, bull, deposit, fairy, bull.
- How on earth is one going to order from the best fast-food restaurant in Lahore - Cock n Bull ?!
- What if I feel like having a glazed donut in the middle of the night and cant text my friend to get it from Dunkin Donuts. Should I now refer it to as 'The-Donut-That-Must-Not-Be-Named' ?
- How would banks go about their daily routine of bothering us poor souls with texts that remind us we have not made bank deposits for a long time.
- What if someone has nicknamed her daughter fairy and text her to check whether she is safe outside.. the text may not even reach her thanks to our country's amazing policies.
PTA has ridiculed itself by releasing the list and suggesting that the words may no longer be used. For most of us 99% of the words were not even used by us and 90% of the words were never heard of before. This move has sparked reactions from the citizens of Pakistan and they wish to oppose the ban. The controversy is ongoing on twitter as well under twitter hashtag - #PTABannedList -
The ban may give rise to the debate of the free speech in a democratic country. If an organziation can control what we can or cannot say, who knows what they can do next.
The entire list of banned words can be found here :
GOD SAVE PAKISTAN
- Abrar Salim Chohan -
is a student at Lahore School of Economics
studying Marketing and Media Studies.
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