Pakistan on Saturday blocked the Wikipedia website over failure to remove “sacrilegious content” two days after it had issued an ultimatum to it for taking it down urgently. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday had warned to block access to Wikipedia services if it failed to adhere to their order. The agency, however, did not elaborate on the content that was considered offensive by the conservative country.
“The action was taken because some of the content is still available on Wikipedia after the expiry of a 48-hour deadline,” Malahat Obaid, spokesperson for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, told Bloomberg.
Bloomberg reported that the Pakistani officials are still in talks with the Wikipedia executives.
Obaid indicated that they will consider unblocking the platform if the content is removed completely. Wikipedia is yet to make a comment on the issue.
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Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan and anyone found convicted of insulting Islam is penalised, and in some cases the penalty is even capital punishment.
On Wednesday, PTA said it “degraded” Wikipedia services in the Muslim-majority country for not complying with its order to remove the “unlawful” content.
“PTA has degraded Wikipedia services in the country on account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious contents. Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law and court order(s). An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority,” the official statement of Pakistan Telecom Authority said in an official release.
“Given the intentional failure on part of the platform to comply with the directions of PTA, the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents,” the official release added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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