PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) has blocked first gay and lesbian website in Pakistan. The website was designed for the gay people and its purpose was to help them meet with each other and support each other.
The website queerpk.com was a platform where lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people were facilitated to share views and connect to each other. This website was opened in July to take a step towards the openness of the long-silent community.
The website said that PTA has shut down the website’s operations inside Pakistan and a statement about this issue by the website owners is stated below. The website also features its own online TV channel featuring live shows related to this subject.
“The government would ban anything that is progressive and talks about the rights of minorities”.
“The government does such things to appease the extreme-right all the time.”
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority did not comment on this issue. The operations of the website are blocked inside Pakistan only and this website can be viewed outside Pakistan. It has the slogan “Don’t hate us, know us!”
Not only the culture of Pakistan suggests that being gay or lesbian is hated and not accepted in Pakistan but it is also considered un-Islamic. In Islam homosexuality is considered a grave sin. The practice of being gay or lesbian is also illegal in Pakistan.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is known to block pages that are considered pornographic or have blasphemous material on frequent basis. It is not a surprise that PTA has done the same with this website as well.
On social media a huge number of people have been applauding this step of PTA and have expressed their views regarding PTA stating that PTA is doing very well to keep pornography, blasphemy and now homosexuality away from them.
Comments by Mufti Muneeb Ur Rehman and some other people are given below as they were shown posted on humjins.com.
