In trying to figure out some context for why such a strange policy would be put in place, I've come across a couple of interesting articles. I could
not include them in the OP - as the BAN forum has severe limitations on doing so. But I will add them here:
Pakistan sees US as major development partner—Prime Minister
SLAMABAD—Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf Saturday said that his country regarded its relations with the United States as “very
important” and that Pakistan valued it as a major development partner.
Ashraf’s remarks came after he held talks with US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, who arrived in the Pakistani capital on
Friday for talks with top officials.
“The Prime Minister said that relations between Pakistan and United States are very important and we value United States as a major development
partner,” a statement issued by Ashraf’s office said.
“We have a shared objective in fighting terrorism and need to cooperate more to get rid of this menace,” the statement said.
The relationship between Islamabad and Washington has been rocky for years, and relations have only just resumed after nosediving following the raid
that killed bin Laden and an air raid that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani troops.
Washington considers Pakistan’s semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt as the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the
West and in Afghanistan.
Grossman also addressed the issue of the anti-Islam video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries, the statement
said.
He stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video”, it said.
The movie, “Innocence of Muslims”, portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent. A mob stormed the US consulate in the Libyan city of
Benghazi on Tuesday, killing the US ambassador and several other staff.
Source - story from 09/15/12
And:
Pakistan avoids inflaming anti-US protests
The Pakistani government and politicians across the political spectrum have condemned a controversial anti-Islam video that exploded into
international awareness this week and sparked protests across Pakistan.
The National Assembly passed a resolution yesterday unanimously condemning the movie, made in the US, and the Foreign Office released a statement
saying that the “government of Pakistan strongly condemns the airing of a defamatory video clip in the US, maligning the revered and pious
personality of Prophet Muhammad.” Authorities also ordered the Pakistan Telecom Authority to block all Internet links to the video, although some
links continued to function.
But while protests broke out, demonstrators stopped short of storming the US embassy in Islamabad and US consulates elsewhere in the country. The
security establishment's interest in maintaining cordial ties with the US and early political condemnations played a key role in preventing protests
from getting out of hand.
Source - 9/14/12
And:
Haqqani Designation Complicates Pakistan Relations
After long deliberations, the U.S. State Department has designated one of Afghanistan's deadliest insurgent groups to be a terrorist organization.
The Haqqani network has been blamed for many attacks on U.S. troops and the embassy in Afghanistan. Although the group is made up primarily of Afghan
fighters, it is based in northwest Pakistan.
And the U.S. decision to blacklist the group could complicate relations with Pakistan, just as they may have been beginning to improve. NPR's Jackie
Northam joins us from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
NPR Transcript Source - 9/8/12
There was also a story, from yesterday, about Pakistan asking the US to cease drone strikes - but it seemingly was pulled.
When I first posted this OP did I did so from the AP live feed simply as a statement about information control. But I am beginning to see this story
as another piece in the puzzle regarding the worldwide psyop that is currently happening.
Forbidding journalists to print demands from terrorists seems, on the surface, to be a smart policy. But to threaten them with long prison sentences
if they do not comply? A better policy would be to allow journalists to print the threats and then use that as a platform to out these groups, to
vilify them, and to show the population just how evil they are.
But a total blackout of the subject? This smacks of agenda IMO.
Could the US State Department have a hand in this? Could they be blacklisting this to manipulate us?
~Heff
