Pakistani daily slams Rehman Malik for 'absurd' statements on Google, YouTube

The "absurdity" of Rehman Malik's statements seems to be growing at an alarming rate, a Pakistani daily said after the interior minister spoke of a likely ban on Google and YouTube websites.

Malik said the government was considering banning the Google and YouTube websites so as to prevent terror outfits from using them to communicate and gather information.

The News International editorially said Monday, "He (Malik) did not say precisely how terrorists were using the websites but demanded that administrators help prevent this use. Malik also said that a case would be brought against the administrator of Google Pakistan for failure to cooperate."

"Malik is not a man known for his sagacity and the absurdity of his statements seems to be growing at an alarming rate," it added.

The daily noted that not long ago the interior minister had opined that "jealous wives or girlfriends were behind the target killings in Karachi!"

The editorial stressed that while groups such as Al-Qaeda have used sophisticated communications technology, "how banning two of the most widely used websites would stop them defies comprehension".

"The only obvious outcome of the proposed course of action would be a colossal loss to the multitudes that use sites such as Google for research, information gathering and web searches."

It went on to say that to foil terror, "emulating more sagacious strategies adopted by a host of other countries would be a far more sensible and effective course of action".

"...Malik appears to be occupied with declaring plans and threats that make no sense. These absurdities only contribute to the mounting evidence of the absolute lack of competence exhibited by the present government."