The social networking website Twitter is blocked on Sunday by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in several parts of Pakistan. It is reported by the different corners of the media like Geo TV, Express News and Dunya TV that Twitter was blocked due to an ongoing “competition” of Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) caricatures.
This move was made, keeping in mind the “emotions of the masses” reported Chaudhry. PTA Chairman Dr Mohammad Yaseen said the regulator was asked by the Ministry of Information and Technology to block the website in the country.
“We just passed on the directives to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), I can’t say for how long the website will remain blocked.”
Pakistan’s government had asked Twitter to stop a discussion on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which was considered derogatory, Yaseen said, adding that “Twitter refused our request.”
Government and the website officials are in negotiations.
In 2010 following a Lahore High Court ruling, facebook was blocked in Pakistan for the same reason.
Denying the news about Twitter block, PTA spokesperson Colonel Muhammad Younus said that he “does not know anything about the ban”, adding that he “would check” if anything like this has happened.
The PTA blocked the access to Twitter directly from the upstream links without notifying the ISPs, said Wahajuz Siraj, convener for Internet Services Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK).
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