Turkey bans YouTube and Twitter

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on April 6, 2014

“The Turkish government banned YouTube on March 27, less than a week after Ankara made a similar blackout of the social networking site Twitter, which is estimated to have more than 10 million Turkish users” reported CNN.

The shutdown came into being just a few days before the municipal elections were taking place nationwide. According to the Turkish government, they have blocked YouTube as a response to the leak of a confidential conversation which was taking place between top government officials discussing the probability of attacking their neighboring country Syria. The leak is "a despicable attack, an act of espionage," the Foreign Ministry says.

However, Turkey's Twitter ban is still going on, and it has affected the social life of many people as they were connected through Twitter. Although, the good part is that the block has actually attracted many people in the country to use Twitter than ever before. NBC reported that “while Turkish residents were originally getting around the Twitter ban by changing their Domain Name System (DNS) settings, recently the Erdogan government has been cracking down, forcing Twitter users to download mobile Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps or tweet via text message.”

The Christian Science Monitor explains this ban thusly: “Turkey is a complicated country, largely split between a secular, liberal youth, and older, more religious conservatives.” Overall, Turkey is a very digitally-connected country: Pew Research found that 80 percent of Turkey’s 34 million Internet users are on social networks. It remains to be seen whether banning social media weakens opposition or fuels the flame.

On March 20, after Twitter was banned in the country, it offered a work-around for Turkish users which uses SMS messaging. Within less than 24 hours, Twitter use in Turkey rose 138 percent, according to social media firms Brandwatch and WeAreSocial. According to Turkish research group Gonzo Insight, there were almost 2.5 million tweets from Turkey from when the ban was put in effect to the next morning, setting records for Twitter use in the country. #TwitterisblockedinTurkey also became a global Twitter trend. Google also offered its own Twitter access backdoor: DNS addresses that went viral online and on the streets. Immediately after the ban, searches for “DNS” in Turkey boomed. But soon, the telecommunication department executed a tougher IP-level block, and searches for DNS fell off. This social media ban can be called “the Streisand effect,” which means that when we try to control access to something, there are high chances that we end up bringing more attention to it.

The move triggered additional public outrage toward the government and it made them move towards international condemnation. It is said that this scandal has grown into the biggest challenge of Erdogan’s 11-year rule. It has affected the behavior of the public in the way that they have become aggressive towards their government’s continuous ban on their social life. Earlier, they had banned the use of alcohol, then threats were given to ban Facebook, and YouTube was once banned which caused educational and entertainment blockage to many people. People have started to feel helpless and have come out to the streets to protest against this imposed law. The issue has become a tug-of-war between Erdogan's administration and Twitter.

Some 2.5 million tweets were posted within three hours of Twitter getting blocked in Turkey. Just before midnight on Thursday, March 27, 2013, over 10 million users started wondering why they could not access the site. Twitter users were able to continue posting by changing their DNS on their computers or downloading certain VPN applications on their smart phones.

Most people think that the Prime Minister did this on purpose because in the recent weeks, almost daily anonymous internet tapes of telephone conversations were released which clearly highlighted that Erdogan was involved in corruption.

The controversy over the ban has added to an already febrile atmosphere ahead of elections, with some rival candidates even warning of armed provocateurs and possible assassination attempts during the polls.

Within less than 24 hours, Twitter use in Turkey rose steeply to 138 percent which is a beneficial effect for the Twitter Company but not for Erdogan because he wants to disconnect the public from the world, which is, of course, not possible in today’s situation where everyone is well-aware of their rights.

Erdogan has decreased his chances of coming back into power, and by making this move, he has increased his chances of being caught by the forces for corruption. The people, especially the youth, are highly affected by this ban because in this age, when they are told not to use something, they tend to use that more. People have left their houses and are on the streets protesting against the government. They are being abused by the forces as well as mentally by themselves thinking what might happen next. Their daily and personal lives are affected by this move; they don’t get to eat, sleep, or socialize the way they did before. This may cause depression to many people and it may also hit the economy of the country because when people come out to the streets to protest, they won’t work.

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Reputation of Pakistan precedes realities, accomplishments

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on April 13, 2014

I come from the land of pure, where we are told on every step to live your life for others. But unfortunately recently my homeland Pakistan, is known as a place where people are not safe and they are being killed for no reason. And trust me it hurts me to see my country name like this because my country is "my country" after all, I belong there and I can’t hear anything against it. We all hear and read about how people criticize and insult Pakistan, and unfortunately there are times when we cannot blame most of the reasons due to the increasing violence. But if there’s one thing I’ve been taught, it’s never to generalize. The good points of Pakistan have been hidden in this layer of violence.

But what we can do is that at least change our perception and try to look for positivity in it. Let me point out some good and interesting facts about Pakistan; in the last five years, Pakistan’s literacy rate has grown by 250 percent, the trend of early and arrange marriages has almost vanish and women have started to come out of their boxes and grow.

Abdul Sattar Edhi is running the world’s largest ambulance network, we produce about 50 percent of the world’s footballs, we are known as world’s seventh largest pool of scientists and engineers and we are ranked as the second largest gas infrastructure in the world.

In medicine, not only have we produced world class doctors that now practice all over the world, we also have state-of-the-art medical facilities that offer services at a fraction of the cost that is charged for similar facilities elsewhere. To name a few, these facilities include Aga Khan, South City Hospital, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, Burns Center, Kidney Center, Services Hospital Lahore and Indus Hospital among others.

On the other hand, we also have some of the South Asia's master musicians in every genre. Whether it is the world famous qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the ghazals of Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum or Mehdi Hassan. The pioneers of pop music in the subcontinent such as Nazia and Zoheb Hassan or bands such as Junoon, Fuzon, and Atif Aslam all come from Pakistan.

Apart from this, Pakistan has produced master artists such as Sadeqain, Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Ustad Allah Baksh, Shakir Ali and others' whose work is not only recognized in this part of the world but is the predominant feature of many art auctions all over the world at Sotheby's and Christie's.

Our artists are the product of a rich cultural heritage that dates back thousands of years. We are the one who value our families and relations more than ourselves. For us our parents always come first and no matter where we are we never forget our culture and tradition. Because that is our identity and that is what makes us a Pakistani.

Despite all the mishaps, destruction and loss, we’ve shown a lot of progress. One of the most amazing facts which we are seeing is that a majority is protesting against the violence. We still have time to improve more, and I know we can if we try to look for motivation and positivity within ourselves not others. We should get united, and stand up for one cause, and that is that we want to change. And guess what since we’re still living let’s bring out the best of us and our country. Long live Pakistan.

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146 people dead in South Korea Ferry disaster

Disclaimer: This post was originally posted in TechNews on April 27, 2014

There are times in our life when we think we are going through a lot of struggle and pain. While we think about this, something so disastrous happens right in front of us that we forget about our struggle and pain and all we think of is the pain that the other people are going through.

We are still not out of the trauma of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight when a ferry sinks in South Korea. The Sewol (name of the ferry) was en route from Incheon, on South Korea's Northwest coast, to the Southern resort island of Jeju when it turned sharply, listed and began taking on water. There were more than 300 people in the boat including high school students.

Until now at least 146 people were confirmed dead, according to the joint task force leading the search. Earlier, when the death toll was reported to be 128, authorities had said that 174 people were still missing. The death toll had been expected to climb as divers were able to reach the ship's cafeteria, where many passengers were thought to be when the ship began to have troubles last week.

Just imagine how many people lost their loved ones in this tragic event. How many relations turn into memories which will always be associated with pain? How many parents lost their children, with whom they had seen their future? We sit here and complain that we are struggling because we don’t get good food or grades. How about those children who were struggling in that ferry for their lives, all because of one captain’s mistake.

I feel sad and ashamed over those people who played stupid pranks by sending messages to the parents of missing children saying that they were still alive and wanted their help. Don’t they have any emotions? Why do we always forget that what goes around, comes around? We have no right to play with someone’s emotions especially during this crucial time when we know that they are wishing for some good news but some people are just so senseless that they want to play pranks with them.

I don’t know about other people but for me such events are always an eye-opener. They let me reflect over my blessings and be thankful for whatever I have. They teach me the importance of relations and the uncertainty of life. They teach me how easy it is to lose your loved ones and how hard it is to wait for someone who has been missing for a while. They teach me how people survive through pain and how hard it is for them to resume their lives once again.

All I want to say is, please try be good to everyone around you. You never know when a person we know becomes a person we knew. What’s the use of living your life with guilt of not appreciating someone or something around you? All you have to do is to be a good person, not for others but for yourself because when you lose a relation, you are the only one who knows what you are going through.

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Journalists close Quetta press club to mourn killing of colleagues

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on Sept 13, 2014

I have been working as a journalist for the past seven years, and every year, I hear about the death of my fellow journalists in Pakistan. It really pinches me thinking about the fact that I am here, all safe doing whatever I wish to, but my people are not safe. I’m tired of this violence, I'm tired of the pain I feel and still can’t help it. I'm tired of being on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. I want to run away from all this, but will it bring a change in my society? I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. It aches like pieces of glass in my body; it feels like scars on the soul of humanity. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I want to do something at least that would bring a little hope to people who lost their families, their friends, their whole lives and have been torn apart in just a second. I'm tired of being in the dark of this ruthless war of injustice. Mostly it's all about the pain. There's too much that words can’t explain. If I could end it, I would have, but there is no hope for humanity. I wonder what can relieve these people, what can change their fate.

On August 28, gunmen barged into the office of he Online News Agency and killed its Bureau Chief Irshad Mastoi, Reporter Abdul Rasool and Accountant Muhammad Younas. Since then the Press Clubs across Baluchistan, like elsewhere in Pakistan, remained closed to protest against what journalists describe as the inability of law enforcing agencies to trace the murderers of senior journalist Irshad Matoi and his two colleagues who were gunned down inside their office.

The strike was called by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Pakistan Press Clubs Council. It is the first ever extreme step taken by journalists to shut down the Press Clubs in Pakistan. The protesting journalists hoisted black flags on top of their press clubs. Journalists pitched strike camps outside the Press Clubs.

The police and law enforcing agencies have so far failed to find any clue regarding the killings. Baluchistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) demanded the government announce compensation for the grieving families of the journalists who were brutally murdered in Baluchistan. Again, my question is, will this thing stop the killers from killing the innocent people, or will it bring their loved ones back to life? No, it will do nothing. Instead of giving them money, why don’t they have a better law and order system, which will stop people from killing others. Why don’t they pass such laws which will stop the terrorists from spreading violence in my country? Why can’t we live in peace like other countries?

The President of BUJ, Irfan Saeed, says that journalists will observe a hunger strike, if there is no progress in investigation. “This is a serious issue and we will not give up until the culprits are arrested,” Saeed said.

President of Quetta Press Club, Raza Ur Rehman said the recent killings have sent a shockwave among the journalists who are now working under immense fear. “This culture of impunity should end now. Law enforcers should expedite investigation and trace the culprits. We will not further tolerate any negligence on the part of law enforcing agencies,” he said. Senior Journalist Shahzada Zulfiqar quoted that journalists are on protest for the unending targeted killings of their colleagues. This is the first time when I have seen such unity in them. I wish they would have learned this lesson the easier way, but I guess sometimes, it better to learn it the other way around.

BUJ announced that in the next phase, the journalists will observe hunger strike to put pressure on law enforcers to fulfill their responsibility and this statement was given last week. Until now, there has  been no progress, so I am afraid they will definitely start their hunger strike. I just hope and wish that the government will take notice of this and will help them out. My country bleeds again and I mourn, I mourn for its fate, its destiny, and its people.

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Nobel Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on Oct 25, 2014

Malala Yousafzai and India’s Kailash Satyarthi were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in promoting children’s rights on Friday, October 10. Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the first Pakistani to become a Nobel laureate since Abdus Salam who also shared the prize in 1979 with U.S. nominee Steven Weinberg for Physics.

What makes the event more thoughtful, though, is that she passed the two-year anniversary of the horrid event that tossed her and her cause onto the world stage just a day prior to the announcement.

Yousafzai was riding home from school on Tuesday, October 9, 2012. Gunmen halted the van she was in and demanded that other girls in the vehicle identify her. She was pointed out. At least one gunman opened fire, wounding three girls. Two suffered nonlethal injuries, but bullets struck Yousafzai in the head and neck. She was left in critical condition. Fortunately, she received proper treatment in time and survived.

Soon, Yousafzai became a global symbol for the fight to allow girls everywhere access to an education. She founded “The Malala Fund,” which invests in local educational initiatives for girls in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Jordan, where it focuses on Syrian refugees. She continued to advocate around the world for a girl's right to an education, speaking before the U.N.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize, stating that peaceful global development can only come about if children and the young are respected. “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,” the jury said.

For me, Yousafzai is a real life super hero who is ready to give up everything for the sake of education, not only for herself but for every individual in our country. Being a Pakistani girl and coming from a remote area of Pakistan just like Yousafzai, she has a very especial place in my heart. Not just for what she is doing, but for how she is doing it.

A citizen is awarded the highest moral award of our civilization. In the words of a former committee chairman, this is a symbol “of goodwill and purity of heart all over the world”. This is the Nobel Peace Prize after all, and it’s about the glory of the human ideal, and I think Yousafzai can be the perfect example for struggle and determination for a noble cause. But then it all goes wrong; A local paper screams “not to provoke the (…) people by rewarding this traitor to the nation.” Parts of the press call our hero a ‘puppet’ and ‘an insult’ to the country. Our local laureate is feted abroad and unwanted at home. Yes, the sane voices sigh, we haven’t heard this one before.

It really hurts me to see how she is being criticized by my fellow countrymen for getting this award. They say there are “candidates more deserving.” It should have been Abdul Sattar Edhi, an unsung angel they mention once a year (whenever Yousafzai might win another award). But an award for Yousafzai isn’t one less for Edhi because both of them are not in opposition to one another. If nothing else, her win leaves the door open for 2015, 2016, and any other year we’d want to spend making ad hominem arguments instead of volunteering at the Edhi Foundation. Instead of criticizing her, we should all be happy that she is presenting Pakistan on an international level. She is the one who is standing tall in front of the world, bearing the criticism and searching for positivity in every negative comment she gets. She is the one who is still not quitting, but moving forward to bring a change in the world. I just hope and pray that sanity prevails and we learn to love and accept our own people.

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Advice, lessons in positivity

Disclaimer: This post was originally posted in TechNews on Nov 23, 2014

Have you ever had that moment in your life when you felt like giving up but just couldn’t because you thought it’s not worth it? Or maybe one of those Kodak moments where something just clicks for you? Or something you’ve been struggling with for a long time and it was finally coming to an end but suddenly everything changed? Whatever the source of our insight, it’s these moments that bring us to a deeper understanding of our world. The better understanding we have of life, the more we live in the truth.

This Ramadan I started a 30 days lesson Facebook update challenge, where every day I shared something positive about my life and any positive lesson which I learnt in my life. Most of my friends loved it, so I thought to put them all together in shape of article and share it with rest of you.

I remember once there was a time in my life where I thought nothing good will ever happen in my life and that is when my mom told me that, “Nothing is impossible in this world. Faith is the only thing that matters and will make a difference, and trust me it did make a difference. There will come a time in your life when the most important decision of your life would be the hardest but, ‘You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it hurts.’ When are going through such time than just stop focusing on how stressed you are and remember how blessed you are. It could be so much worse. No matter how long it takes, it will get better. Tough situations build strong people in the end. Look for something positive about this moment. Even if you have to look a little harder than usual, it still exists.

There is a very famous saying by Victor Hugo that, “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved,” and you will never understand this thing till you learn to love yourself. Learn to love yourself first, instead of loving the idea of other people loving you. My favorite poet Rumi said in his one of verse that, "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it," and in his support he said, "Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth." If you will just read between the lines of his both verses trust me you will live a very peaceful life because life is all about love and the best thing one can do is to love himself. There is another good verse by Rumi which resonate with these verse, “Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.”

Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. All you have to do is look for that desire and fight for it. When you will start your journey there will be many people who will try to put you down but just remember one thing that, “When setting out on a journey do not seek advice from someone who never left home” – Rumi

There will come a time in your life when everything will go against you and you might stop believing in yourself but just remember what Alice Walker said, "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any." Everyone is born with powers, you only have to polish them with time. There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. Speak up before it's too late. Let the world know about your power and show them that you are the one who will make his story a better one, in fact an inspirational one. As Aristotle said, “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, and determines your destiny.” So make your choices, put in your sincere efforts and keep your good intention high, nothing can then stop you from being successful. The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it. Participate in life instead of just watching it pass you by.

Everyone likes to complains and I like that too but next time when you complain then just remember this saying by our prophet Muhammad (pbuh), “When you see a person who has been given more than you in money and beauty, look to those, who have been given less.”  Remember, social comparison is the thief of happiness. You could spend a lifetime worrying about what others have, but it wouldn’t get you anything. But also remember that this doesn’t mean that you have the complete right to make fun of other people. Saying someone is ugly doesn’t make you any prettier. So why hurt someone's feeling. Plus nothing is ugly in this world, it's just the way we see it. Someone who appears to be ugly for you, could be someone's reason for living. When you choose to see the good in others, you end up finding the good in yourself.  So think before you speak and if you commit any mistakes just accept them move ahead. You can learn great things from your mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them. There isn't anything noble about being superior to another person. True nobility is in being superior to the person you once were. It’s absolutely okay to be wrong at times and guess what someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right either.

One of the most important lesson you will ever learn in your life is that don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do. And I would like to end my article with another awesome verse by my most favorite Sufi mystic Rumi, “This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor…Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” I hope you enjoyed these tiny lessons and learned something, if you did I will feel blessed and if you didn’t I will still feel blessed because you read my entire article.

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Chapel Hill shooting prompts reflection

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on Feb 21, 2015

I have been trying to write about the shooting at Chapel Hill for quite a while now, but each time I sat down to write about it, all I could do was relate the tragedy with myself. I lost my older brother to cancer four years ago and I still cannot overcome his death. The day my brother left us was the day my heart wanted to stop beating but I had to stay here and keep his memory alive. I know I’ll see him again one day, but still I miss him so much. I saw my brother suffering and I knew he is going to die but still, when he left us for good, we couldn’t accept the truth easily. We still sit and think about how it happened all of a sudden. So it’s hard to just imagine the pain the families of the Chapel Hill victims are going through, where someone else decided to kill them because they thought they didn’t deserve to live.

On the evening of Tuesday, February 10, something really unusual happened in a quiet neighborhood. Everything seemed to be quite okay until two women called 911 to report multiple gunshots and screams echoing through a condominium complex near the University of North Carolina (UNC).

By the time the police arrived, three people were dead. The victims were identified as Chapel Hill residents Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu Salha, 19, of Raleigh. They were young university students, muslims of Arab descent, and high achievers who regularly volunteered in the area.

A neighbor, a middle-aged white man, went missing on the same evening and was later under arrest when he turned himself in after the shooting in Chapel Hill, just outside the UNC campus and was charged with three counts of murder. The shooter, identified as Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was being held in Durham County Jail, the Chapel Hill News and Observer newspaper and other news outlets said.

The victims’ families described it as a hate crime. The police said that the shooting appeared to have been motivated by “an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking,” but that they were investigating whether religious hatred had contributed to the killings. I just don’t understand how you can decide to kill someone just because you don’t like the way they look. You are not the Lord, you have no right to decide either who will live or die. When they never questioned you over your appearance, who are you to decide to end their lives over their appearance?

Mohammad Yousif Abu-Salha, the father of the two women who were killed, said that daughter Yusor Abu-Salha had told him that she and her husband had been harassed for their appearance by a neighbor who was wearing a gun on his belt. As mentioned in NY Times, “A friend of Yusor said she knew that Mr. Hicks had complained to the couple before about making noise and the use of parking spaces by their visitors, and that he once came to their door carrying a rifle. It is not clear whether they ever called the police about the altercations.”

Following the murder of three muslim students in the university town of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, many questioned the kind of coverage the gruesome incident received from mainstream US media in comparison to similar incidents involving members of other faiths. President Obama took four days to offer his and first lady Michelle Obama's condolences to the victims' loved ones, and stated, "We are all one American family."

I liked that President Obama added to his statement regarding the debate over the crime's motive that, "No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like or how they worship.” But then again, are people really following the laws regarding the hate crime?

While #ChapelHillShooting was the top most trend around the world, many gathered under #MuslimLivesMatter to combat racism and the creeping scepter of Islamophobia.

Haya Barakat, cousin of one the victims Deah Barakat, tweeted that her cousin and his wife, her sister-in-law, were murdered for being Muslims, questioning growing racism/hate crime in the society. My question is whether anyone even knows what hate crime is and what its laws are? The FBI defines a hate crime as one with an added element of bias against a person's race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. The agency says: "Hate itself is not a crime - and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties." Proving whether something is a hate crime can be extremely difficult because you have to show that someone committed the crime as he had certain beliefs regarding some issue.

This will be very prolonged and many people will forget this sooner or later, but their families will have to live with this pain forever. My humble request to everyone out there is that if you ever had any negative vibes against anything then try to work on it and talk it out to someone who can help you because you never know when that negative feeling will change into hatred and you might end up doing something which you will repent your entire life. Everything can be sorted out except for the death because when someone dies, everything comes to an end and that person can never come back, no matter how hard you try. If you have any questions regarding any religion then please attend an interfaith talk where you can talk it out and remove your misconception because it’s never too late.

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