The group that caused the ban.
When an American cartoonist posted a fictional poster on Facebook suggesting that "Everybody draw Mohammed", she was not expecting it to result in street protests, a boycott, and a court order banning the social networking website in Pakistan. Alas, she was wrong. Two of our Pakistani Observers give their reactions to the nationwide and indefinite ban, and the Facebook group that caused it.
The controversy began after an episode of the American satire show South Park was censored by Comedy Central for including an image of the prophet in a bear suit. In response to this censorship, 49-year-old Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris posted a fictional poster that included, amongst other things, a teacup and a cherry claiming to be Prophet Mohammed. She called, jokingly, for an "Everybody draw Mohammed day" on May 20.
The poster went viral and was picked up by news agencies. On April 25 Norris was interviewed on a local radio station - something she says she now regrets. The interview subsequently inspired Facebook user Jon Wellington to set up a group called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" In under a month, the group had attracted 80,000 members and over 7,000 pictures had been submitted.
Unsurprisingly, the group was not received well by Muslim Facebook users. A torrent of angry blog posts appeared online and a Facebook group entitled "Against ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day' - May 20" soon attracted 38,000 members. In Pakistan, angry web users turned their attention towards Facebook itself for allowing the group to exist. Not only was a group launched to boycott Facebook (ironically, on the website itself), but street protests sprang up across the country, attracting the attention of the government. A temporary ban was put in place by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Tuesday. The very next day, after pressure from a group of Islamic lawyers, the Lahore High Court ordered a total and indefinite ban on the social networking site.
On Thursday afternoon the Facebook group disappeared, but only temporarily. As this feature went to press it was available.
The group that caused the ban.
