Blogging Facilitating democracy ??- Case # Pakistan

The Washington Post carried an article on March 8 , 2006, titled Pakistan's Blog Blockade. The reason for the blanket ban on blogs was ,that a few of them displayed the infamous Danish cartoons of the prophet which many Muslims regard as blasphemous. Amongst the sites blocked were Blogger.com which hosted hundreds of Pakistani blogs. To me the blogosphere is similar to a virtual democratic institution, wherein common citizens can express their point of view on topics close to their heart... . I would like to believe that blogging is a process which strengthens civil society and enables healthy exchange of ideas (provided blogs are not used to generate a hate campaign or treason ...) , .....what I failed to understand was the rationale for a blanket ban on the basis of the fact that some blogs might have contained objectionable content .I had read about this in 2006 and was of the opinion that nothing much can be done in cultures where freedom of expression is not valued.....however today I read another article which makes me feel much better....the article is a discussion with Mohammad Khan a local blogger . The discussion with Khan revealed that its now possible to openly critique the government; take stances against religious fundamentalists....... apparently Pakistanis were allowed to surf the net freely till early 2001 ....that changed in April, 2003, when the Pakistan Telecommunication Company began restricting blasphemous websites at the ISP level...things may have changed for the better and as Khan narrates its a freer press now .

As Indians we have many complaints about our nation, complaints about its infrastructure , about its civil amenities , its politicians .....to the extent that we enjoy in bashing everything about India ....but after having read this blog post don't you think that we are blessed being Indians , at least nobody stops us from expressing anything in blogosphere ....and the next time when we complain about the lack of "blah...blah.." in India , think about the little mercies of our democracy ....and lets start to learn to value them