No Jokes On Zardari

SMS jokes about President Asif Ali Zardari which have banned in Pakistan under a new cyber-crime law, are quite common in the country.One of them claims that the words that most frighten him are slogan : “Bhutto is still alive. ‘ It’s a mantra his party workers chant often in public meetings, but it can be interpreted to mean it is unfortunate for the nation that Bhutto died & Zardari become President.Most of the hundreds of jokes shared by 50 million SMS users of about 80 million mobile phone customers seem innocous but can have disastrous political implications for Zardari, who according to some recent surveys is already highly unpopular among the public.“ Jokes in Pakistani political culture are a very effective way to delegitimize rulers. Historically, these have been used by the weak & helpless against the powerful,” said Rasool Bux Raees, a political analyst at Lahore University of Management Sciences.Local media, human right activists & bloggers have been swift in criticizing the proposed law against anti-government SMS & online texts as “ draconian & authoritarian.”The Nation said early this week that Malik’s statement showed that Zardari’s government had lost its nerve.The former director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I A Rehman, condemned the legislation as “ standing in conflict with the freedom of expression that is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan.”