Islamabad: A small video showing Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari yelling “shut up” at audience during his address has been mysteriously scrubbed off from Internet.
The video clip, which was played in endless loop on the dozen private channels here, shows Zardari giving a speech in Urdu to a crowd that apparently wasn’t listening to him too closely.
Annoyed with the chitchat from the inattentive audience, Zardari looked down at someone and yelled, in English, “Shut Up!”
After remaining on airwaves for at least a week, the “shut up” video became so popular that some even created remixes of it and posted them to YouTube, ABC News reports.
“Such behaviour is embarrassing for any politician, but especially for the president of a country,” wrote Adil Najam on Pakistan Twitterverse.
However, the “shut up” video on Pakistan Twitterverse, YouTube suddenly disappeared from Pakistani Internet Service Providers.
“It must be some restriction from government side. Zardari might be blocking it himself!" a netizen laughed.
It is not the first time that Zardari’s government has restricted critical speech.
Last summer, the government passed a law threatening anyone who sends text messages or e-mails that “slander the political leadership of the country” with 14 years in prison.
ANI
First Published: Monday, February 08, 2010, 13:59