(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/g-wld-banistan-combo.photoblog600.jpg)Getty Images, fileAll of these things have been banned in Pakistan at one time or another. Clockwise from top left: Long-haired musicians, 'The Da Vinci Code,' kite-flying, Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses,' India (usually in the form of its newspapers and TV channels) and alcohol.By Wajahat S. Khan, NBC NewsISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Last month, it was cellphones. Before that, it was motorcycles, shawls and jackets. Earlier this year, it was the BBC, Twitter and YouTube. In 2011, it was porn websites. In 2010, it was Facebook. In the 1990s, it was Indian television and musicians with long hair. In the 1980s, it was Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses." And in the 1970s, it was booze.
All banned. In Pakistan. By Pakistan.
Through the decades. Pakistan's state and non-state actors have found a way to regulate, boycott, ban or completely outlaw technology, information, literature, media and even entire communities.
The result? The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, once imagined as a secular, democratic haven for India's minority Muslim population, may well have become the land of "Banistan."
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