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DAWN website blocked in India
3rd July 1999 Harsh Kapoor @mnet.fr
July 3, 1999
FYI
(South Asia Citizens Web)
========================
http://www.timesofindia.com/today/03indi8.htm
The Times of India
Saturday 3 July 1999
____________________
Dawn website blocked as VSNL plays Big Brother
By Siddharth Varadarajan
NEW DELHI: Evidently carried away by patriotic zeal,
the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, India's sole gateway to the Internet,
has decided that Indian netizens should not read the Pakistani
newspaper Dawn.
For more than a week now, Internet users in India have
been unable to connect to the Dawn website, www.dawn.com. A
VSNL official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told this
correspondent that the company had blocked access to the
Karachi-based newspaper's site. Only those users on privately
leased international circuits can still get through. Other Pakistani
newspapers like The News, The Nation, Business Recorder and
Frontier Post are, however, still available to VSNL subscribers.
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest newspaper and also its most
respected one. Unlike some West Punjab- based dailies, it still
believes in the sanctity of the English language. Its coverage and
analysis of the Kargil events have been the least shrill and the most
objective - in relative terms, of course - and is required reading
for all journalists covering the crisis. It is baffling why VSNL would
choose to single it out for the chop. Perhaps the gentlemen who
gave the order haven't heard of its rivals.
Despite several phone calls to VSNL, no explanation has
been forthcoming. In fact, company officials are not even willing to
admit that the site has been blocked. VSNL Delhi acknowledges
that the site is unavailable but blames headquarters (Mumbai) for
the problem. Senior officials in VSNL Mumbai, on the other
hand, feign ignorance and promise to get back, which they never
do. Amitav Kumar, the company's acting managing director, was
reportedly busy in a board meeting the whole day on Friday and
hence unable to come to the phone.
If, in fact, Dawn has been blocked, this would be the
second Pakistani media organisation that Indians - clearly an innocent
and highly gullible lot - are being protected from. Last month, in a
move that was widely criticised by most Indian newspapers,
information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan banned
cable operators from relaying Pakistan TV. Presumably, any
order blocking out Dawn from Indian cyberspace would have
originated in the PMO, which now controls communications, the
nodal ministry for VSNL.
It is understood that an external affairs ministry
official has also complained to VSNL Delhi about the blocking out of
Dawn. ``Why has VSNL done this when the MEA doesn't have a
problem with the newspaper?'' he asked VSNL. No answer was
forthcoming. When contacted by this correspondent, however,
MEA officials denied having formally made any representation to
VSNL. In fact, Ms Vijay Deepak Singh, director (Pakistan), claimed
she had no problem accessing the Dawn website.
With VSNL denying that it has blocked Dawn, it would
appear that the company intends to continue with its own unique
contribution to the war effort. Until common sense dawns on the
government, therefore, Indian Internet subscribers will have to
look elsewhere to find out what the most literate section of the
Pakistani media thinks.
