Twitter blocked in Pakistan due to blasphemous content

Karachi: Twitter has been blocked in Pakistan on the directives of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) by internet services providers.

The internet and broadband services providers said that their users are not being connected with favorite micro-blogging sites in the last couple of hours.

Sources in the industry said that the telecom watchdog has issued fresh orders to IP backbone providers to disable the access of micro-blogging site in the country.

The IP backbone providers, PTCL and Transworld, have blocked Twitter access to internet providers following the order of the authority that have disrupt the interaction of hundred thousand of Pakistan twitterati among them not only their systems but also on mobile phone as well.

PTA officials told The News Tribe, the largest independent & bilingual (English, Urdu) news website in Pakistan and U.S, that the authority has received orders from Ministry of Information and Technology (MoITT) to block Twitter and it implemented its directives accordingly.

Human Rights Watch says Pakistan’s ban on Twitter is ill-advised, counter-productive and will ultimately prove to be futile.

The PTA has contacted with Facebook management with demand of blocking blasphemous pages particularly in Pakistan that was fulfilled by Facebook. However, Twitter management did not respect the sentiments of the Muslim and the blasphemous content is readily available on the micro-blogging site by the anti-Muslim social media activist.

The blasphemous content is available on Twitter therefore it has been blocked in the country, PTA official said.

In 2010, PTA blocked Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and different sites having growing blasphemous content following the created page Draw Muhammad Day. Afterwards Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, Malaysia and Bangladesh also took same action to block Facebook and such websites.