Dear Alex
I am a human rights activist and a social media expert who very avidly uses the potent weapon of online petitions to strengthen the offline campaigns on various human rights violations. I have used almost all petition sites including yours.
Your site is featuring a very controversial petitions , which blow horns on the top on censorship “Remove ban against ‘The Satanic Verses’, which states that The Satanic Verses’ is an epitome of free speech. Banning the book is as good as banning one’s right to have an opinion in the world’s largest democracy. For a long time, to appease vote banks, successive governements have been trying to suppress the right to speech and opinion by banning several books and pieces of art created by men of high intellectuality. Among these, the most famous and controversial one has been ‘The Satanic Verses’. Banning the book in the 20th century, the Indian government committed a huge blunder as it paved the way for several subsequent bans. It is high time we remove the ban and welcome Sir Rushdie amidst us. Once this petition is signed by at least 10,000 people, it will be sent to the Prime Ministers Office and the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. No efforts will be spared to unban this magnificient piece of prose. The government should realise that every piece of literature can entertain people and at the same time offend them. Spread the word!
Now, I want to ask you how can blow the horn against ban on satanic verses when you have banned a petition on your site “ For Release of Waqar “, it reeks of hypocrisy, you washed your hands off the petition by immediately disabling it with a small message which states-
This petition is going offline in 48 hours.
Hello, Unfortunately, our legal department has encountered some legal issues regarding your petition (http://www.ipetitions.com/ petition/release-waqar-ahmad/). We are forced to remove your petition from our site, otherwise we are subject to legal proceedings. The petition will be disabled for at least 48 hours prior to removal, but you will have access to its database during that period. We apologize once again. Thank you for your understanding. -Alex iPetitions Support-
I would really like to know “ What legal proceedings “ will be initiated against you, if you had the free waqar petition ? W ho threatened you ? and why you pulled out the petition from the website, REALLY
Either you protect human rights fully, or please don’t create a façade in the name of e activism. This is highly unexpected of an e petition website ,which says it stands for the same values that our petition demanded, Justice and Freedom for all.
Expecting a reply to my queries
Warm Regards
Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal
@ kracktivist
ps- this letter has been sent to [email protected] also
- Free Waqar Now (kractivist.wordpress.com)
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