News today that Pakistan has banned the Nov. 22 issue of Newsweek. The cause is an article imaginatively titled, “Clash of Civilization” [btw, can we put a moratarium on the use of that phrase in weeklies and dailies for, like, a year?]. The article is standard enough coverage of Theo Van Gogh’s murder and the aftermath in the Netherlands but the Pakistani govt. is mad about the picture accompanying the article depicting the Qur’an written on the woman’s torso.
The BBC report said that most issues are already sold out. I would keep my eye on this and see how the mullahs run with it. From my childhood memories, the Satanic Verses brouHAHA did not erupt until the urdu press (Takbeer especially) got hold of western reports. No one ever read the damn book.
The banning seems to be a pre-emptive strike by The General to prevent the floundering MMA from any ammo against him since the MMA has already announced major public protests.
Have a nice weekend, gentle readers.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Sepoy,
This is crazyness I mean come on who reads newsweek in Pakistan? People who read newsweek in Pakistan also have access to the internet and they have already watched that particular picture. I had a chance to read Satanic Verses and I think it was bullshit, really boring and enough lengthy to give a head ache for a few days. The Mullahs made a issue out of it otherwise how many Pakistanis read any kind of books in Pakistan? I think that government of Pakistan intentionally give publicity to such things by banning them because they know that without banning no one would even care about these stories. It is good in a way that at least it makes people curious and they talk about such things. Though their discussions are always too biased and too protective of their own values and what they call “religious sentiments”.
Manto almot 60 years ago won a case filed against him in LHC for comparing beauty of female breasts to that of the tombs of a mosque. i cann’t think of anything better than a female torso for this thing. it definitly is much better than wood, leather or a dirty piece of paper.
ps. please correct me if you think it happened under raj.
pps. 6 av/45 st shawarma is so good that you can visit from anywhere in n america to new york just for it
there is a considerable amount who reads newsweek and other intl. journals, but what will actually drive everyone(mullah’s) crazy would be those ’sexed-up’ editorals, headlines and the picture of woman√≠s torso , ‘censored’ by Huge cross-lines. No one will ‘ever’ bother to read the actual matter.