The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday restored Wikipedia services across Pakistan. 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. 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.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP