Pakistan telecom authority aims to ban rude SMS messages

Texters should learn to watch their language when they are in Pakistan, whose telecom watchdog is drafting a ban on rude SMS messages.

 

Some 1,500 "rude" words from "flatulence" to "pocket pool" and "quickie" are on an initial list, UK's The Guardian reported.

 

While admitting that Pakistan's constitution guaranteed free speech, the regulator told mobile phone companies that such freedom was "not unrestricted" under court rulings, The Guardian reported.

 

It added they had obligations under their licences to prevent "obnoxious communication."

 

Watchdog director Muhammad Talib Doger said in a letter to mobile phone firms that "the system should be implemented within seven days ... and a report submitted to PTA on monthly basis on the number of blocked SMSs."

 

The list was attached to the letter, with 1,109 words and phrases in English to be banned and 586 in the national language, Urdu, a local tongue.

 

But the report said the watchdog has yet to tackle obscenity in Pakistan's four main regional languages, including the raucous Punjabi.

 

Despite being a less-developed country, mobile phones are used widely across society, even in remote villages in Pakistan.

 

Mohammad Younis, a spokesman for the PTA, said the ban was "the result of numerous meetings and consultations with stakeholders" after consumers complained of receiving offensive text messages. He said the list was not finished and the authority would continue to add to it.

 

"Nobody would like this happening to their young boy or girl," said Younis.

 

Mobile operators expect the PTA to fine them for any banned words that get through, which means that they will have to cut the connection of customers who persistently try to send such messages. — TJD, GMA News