Pakistanis will have to do their poking elsewhere for now: Islamabad blocked access to the social networking site altogether over a Facebook-fueled movement called “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day!” which urges the public to create and share images of the Prophet Muhammad.

The top Google-ranked Facebook page associated with “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day!” says it is intended to “show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammad depictions, that we’re not afraid of them. That they can’t take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us to silence.”

Inspired by death threats made to “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” has been set for Thursday.

According to Wikipedia, both the Seattle cartoonist who originally conceived of “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” and “the man who created the first Facebook page promoting the May 20 event disassociated themselves from it. Nonetheless, planning for the protest continued with others taking up the cause.”

Los Angeles Times:

Efforts such as Facebook’s “Draw Muhammad” campaign, however, “hurt us very badly, very seriously,” said Pakistani Information Technology Secretary Najibullah Malik.

“They should have regard for sentiments of Muslims, and they should not repeat such displays,” Malik said on Pakistani television. “They should know that if they are going to do such activities, certainly their business will suffer.”

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