Wikipedia services restored across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday restored Wikipedia services across Pakistan, ARY News reported.

As per details, the PTA has unblocked the service on the orders of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif earlier directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to “immediately” restore online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, which was banned for not “blocking/removing sacrilegious content”

The prime minister then constituted a committee comprising the law, economic affairs and information ministers for “preliminary examination of the matter”.

“Blocking the site in its entirety was not a suitable measure to restrict access to some objectionable contents/ sacrilegious matter on it. The unintended consequences of this blanket ban, therefore, outweigh its benefits,” the statement added.

Read More: Pakistan degrades Wikipedia services over ‘sacrilegious content’

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked Wikipedia services in the country after the platform failed to remove blasphemous content.

In a statement, the PTA said that Wikipedia was approached for the removal of the blasphemous content by issuing a notice under applicable law and court order(s).

“The platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority,” the statement read.