Many of you may have heard about the Mumbai, India bombings on the 11of July. The government claims that a terrorist group based in India, who they believe to "have ties with Bangledesh, or Nepal, so therefore is directly, or indirectly, funded by Pakistan", carried out the bombings that killed almost 200 people. We are a bit worried because the Indian government has pointed fingers so quickly and taken many people (we read as many as 200) into custody only days after the blasts. The two countries were in the process of scheduling peace talks but it now seems that India might pull out of these important talks. Other than the implications the bombings have had on India - Pakistan relations and the USs relations with both the countries we seem to be far away from any danger so there is no need to worry! You can read more about how the US is involved with these bombings at another entry below.
Speaking of our blog... we can no longer view or edit the site. It appears (the story follows) that the government has restricted the countries Internet access of a few large blogs - Blogspot.com included. If I remember correctly we are able to add postings by emailing our account... I just have to remember the name... otherwise we will be off-line until we reach Thailand... or until the country protests (which they do well).
India Angers Bloggers
As India's financial capital, Mumbai, observed a moment of silence Tuesday to commemorate the seven bombings of commuter trains seven days earlier, a blistering silence blanketed the Indian blogosphere. Last Tuesday's attacks in Mumbai killed 182 people and wounded more than 700.
For reasons yet to be disclosed by the authorities, the government has directed local Internet service providers to block access to a handful of Web sites that are hosts to blogs, including the popular blogspot.com, according to government officials and some of the providers. The move has sown anger and confusion among Indian bloggers, who accuse the government of censorship and demand to know why their sites have been jammed. Among the speculation offered was that certain blogs could be used by terrorists to coordinate operations.
Nilanjana Roy, a Delhi-based writer who runs kitabkhana.blogspot.com, a literary blog, called it "a dangerous precedent." "You have a right to know what is being banned, and why it's being banned," she said. "I can understand if it's China or Iran or Saudi Arabia. I'm truly appalled when it's my country doing this."
The ban, which has come into effect in recent days, means that people living in India are, in theory, kept from reading anything that appears on the blocked platforms, whether Indian blogs or otherwise. But the ban seems far from effective. Some Internet providers have blocked access. Others have not, and many more blog aficionados have figured out how to continue reading their favorite sites. One Web site offers help, by way of a free blog "gateway." "Is your blog blocked in India, Pakistan, Iran or China?" it asks, and goes on to offer instructions for outwitting the restrictions. That site was prompted by the efforts of the Pakistan Telecom Authority to block blogspot.com in February, as a way to prevent Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad from spreading.
It is impossible to know how many Indian blogs are affected. One blogger, Mitesh Vasa, from Vienna, Virginia, has documented "40,128 Indian bloggers who mention India as their country." That does not include those who do not name which country they are based in, nor others who identify their country of origin, as Peter Griffin does from Mumbai, as "utopia."
Another simular article:
India's burgeoning blogging community is up in arms against a move to block their web logs.
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