After we had the public protesting over the ban of PUBG, the rumors of a prospective YouTube ban spread like fire. Now, the threat is a ban on books. The Punjab Assembly passed a Punjab Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Act, 2020, which banned around 100 textbooks in the province.
The act banned the books over ‘anti-Pakistan and anti-religious’ content. And the reasons were as petty as portraying Pakistan as inferior to India and including the sayings of Mahatma Gandhi in books. The act banned some maths books just because they explained counting concepts by showing pictures of pigs.
This also authorized the DGPR to visit any printing press and publishing house and confiscate any book
Also, FIRs would be registered against the publishers in case of violation.
Pakistanis are furious over this
People are pointing out the long term consequences of such decisions
It’s truly a bit much for some
One can only hope that this restrictive ban gets lifted immediately
Provided that the reading culture is already at the brink of extinction, such decisions will just make things worse. What’s your say on this entire book ban? Let us know in the comments below.
