In a move designed to feed its population and enable them to become a world superpower, the Pakistani government has decided to ban the use of “certain words” on mobile phones.

The country, whose biggest export seems to be its own citizens, has decided that it is too hard to crack down on corruption or Taliban insurgents and will spend money which normally would have been used to keep it a nuclear power, on stopping people sending rude words on mobile phones.

It is all part of a crack down on sexting which has become an obsession for religious authorities. The idea is that men might be sending sexy emails to women who are supposed to be someone else's property. So the idea is to make it harder – the sexting we mean.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has handed down a ban on about 1,600 terms and phrases it has deemed obscene. Oddly the word harder is on the list. Carriers have been told that they have seven days to block the words on their networks, or face legal action. The words include “Jesus Christ”, “barf”, “back door”, “idiot," "monkey crotch," "athlete's foot," "damn," "deeper," "four twenty," "fornicate," "looser," "go to hell, and “do me”. Luckily there don’t appear to be too many rude words in Urdu. For example, if one tried to do the same thing in Bosnia, the country would practically be left without a colloquial language. (Aferim. sub.ed.)

One telecoms outfit said that the filtering is not good for the system and may degrade the quality of network services. Then there is the small matter of SMS's which legitimately use the worlds. The Pope talking about a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ would be banned. We guess it will only be a matter of minutes before someone works out a way around the ban.