ISLAMABAD, May 20: Online social network users in the country were pushed into deeper troubles on Thursday when the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked the video-sharing website YouTube a day after blocking access to Facebook.
YouTube was the fourth most accessed website from Pakistan.
The PTA said in a statement it had asked all operators to shut down www.youtube.com because of its sacrilegious content.
It said it had decided to block the sites from being viewed within the country after making all possible efforts within its jurisdiction, including using regular channels available on the Facebook and YouTube, to launch protest against an increase in derogatory material online over the past two weeks.
The PTA has so far blocked more than 450 internet links containing such material.
It said the move was in line with the Constitution and the wishes of the people.
It said the attitude of administrators of Facebook and YouTube was in contravention of their own policies advertised on the web.
Yet the PTA would welcome reconciliatory dialogue, the statement said.
Prime Minister’s Adviser on Information Technology Latif Khosa claimed responsibility for blocking the sites.
“Purity of our faith and religion has been maintained because we have shown zero tolerance towards sacrilegious contents. I have instructed the PTA to exercise maximum authority to block sites that mock our Prophet (pbuh) and disrespect feelings of Muslims,” he said.
He said the government was not denying the people, especially the youth, the technology, but “our reaction has to be prominent against evil”. However, it was yet to be seen how successfully the government could keep more than 20 million Pakistani internet users from accessing the blocked sites.
YouTube was more than just a video-sharing website. It was widely used by the young and the old to log on to local news channels like Geo, DawnNews and ARY.
It was a major source of information when the previous military dictator had banned some TV channels.
Besides news, people could access religious, educational, musical and science programmes, talk shows and documentaries through YouTube. It is also a popular website which has often served the interests of Muslims and Pakistanis by carrying videos which highlight the plight of Kashmiris and Palestinians as well as the atrocities of Taliban.
Facebook too was more than a social network and had become a source of income for students, young entrepreneurs and multinationals which could place their advertisements and announcements on it.
Reuters adds: Some other websites, including Wikipedia and Flickr, have also been inaccessible in Pakistan since Wednesday night.
But a spokesman for the PTA said those sites had been blocked because of a technical reason and no orders had been issued against them.
However, he said the authority was monitoring other websites.
Source: Pakistan Dawn
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