YouTube was blocked across Pakistan on September 17, 2012, on the orders of then-prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
Minister of State Anusha Rahman has formed a 12 member committee to review the possibility of removing objectionable content from the website after PTA voiced its inability to block the content.
The government said that all stakeholders will be taken into confidence before reopening the website.
YouTube had been blocked across Pakistan on September 17, 2012 following orders by then Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf.
The premier had imposed a ban after YouTube refused to heed to the advice of the government to remove what it felt was a blasphemous film titled The Innocence of the Muslims.
Earlier today, the Lahore High Court summoned the minister for Information & Technology (IT) and his secretary in connection with a petition challenging the ongoing ban on video sharing website YouTube, on August 2.
COMMENTS (25)
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Eid has passed...when will the ban be lifted!?
Salam, youtube....I can't go to school since I am dissatisfied with the quality of teachers in this place as are any students seeking to "learn" rather than only acing an exam. I got the opportunity to learn from some outstanding foreign teachers cuz of youtube alhamdulillah. I hope the ban's lifted soon...I still have a load to study inshAllah.
finally, its time to uninstall all proxies.
Guys youtube was never blocked. Just try https://www.youtube.com
To all so vehemently against Youtube:
A) Do you even know what that film was? Let me tell you. It was a ridiculously lame attempt at film making with a subject that was sure to spark controversy. In other words, it wanted you to feel insecure about your faith and won because you did exactly what it sought out to get out of you with such a subject: it got attention. Youtube has a buttload of shorts and videos that are normally termed to be "in the weird part of Youtube". However, no one in their right state of mind actually went to the trouble of making them famous because they had their moral compass stronly opposing it. You are not enabling them with ignoring their pathetic attempt at asking for attention, you are enabling them by actually giving them the satisfaction that they were successful in pricking up a whole lot of peaople.
B) Youtube is a source. A tool, so to speak. A knife, for example, can be used for the purpose of murdering someone or it can be used to slice lemons and make lemonade for the good folk of your neighborhood in this sweltering heat. Either way, it is not the fault of the tool that it has blood on it. Yes you can clean the blood, or in context, get the video removed, but what would it matter? Satiate your moral thirst? A majority of Muslim countries (read: almost all) wrote to Youtube (it is very much a living thing as it is run by a mammoth corporation of living things) to block the video in their respective countries. YouTube voluntarily blocked the video in Egypt and Libya and blocked the video in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, India and Singapore due to local laws while Turkey, Brazil and Russia have initiated steps to get the video blocked. Google has also agreed to block the anti Islam movie in Jordan.
India respects its citizens more that your own ideas about morality lets you to. I know I probably wrote all this in vain, but seriously, it is about time us Pakistanis stop turning petty issues into full blown disasters just because we feel the need to. Stop pointing fingers and instead try and become better human beings. Initiate acts of kindness. Say please, and thank you, and be polite as much as you can. Truly be the Muslims Allah wants you to be, instead of being self righteous mullahs all the time.
@ashar: Wow. Salute to you, sir.
@Bushra: It's not our fault that you can't control yourself in what you watch on the internet. Youtube has thousands of educational/instructional videos that can't be found on any other site. It even had live streaming of taraweeh prayers in several different countries which would have been nice to see if youtube wasn't banned.
Just to know how useful youtube is I had a conference to attend where tie was necessary i had the tie but i do not know how to tie the knot youtube showed me exactly how to with a "DIY" video
About time the ban is lifted
The seculars say that if someone finds any material offensive he will not visit that site. But when the British Prime Minister said to ban child porn everyone was applauding him. Why wasn't it said that someone finds it offensive then won't go there.
The fast is this, the seculars don't consider Blashpemy a crime.In there search for freedom of speec they won't mind viewing or even saying vile things about anything sacrosant.
P.S. I am totally agains't all porn. Every sort of porn should be banned and child porn is the worst kind. Just wanted to show the world the dual face of wanaba liberals of Pakistan.
@Sane Human Being: Youtube is that student not the university and please donot compare it with an institution.
Blocking will not help until we get educated... first of all , all we have to do is to make sure that we must not consider any abusive thing on any site... All we need is to change ourselves
@Bushra, Come on, Have people deleted their gmail accounts, stopped using Google search, their play store? Android? Can we assume that they do not fear Allah anymore? There is NO religious linking in this topic.
Secondly, Internet is full of such content, even this documentary is loaded on so many websites. What is our max limit to keep blocking? The best way is to ignore such content and educate our people, not keep blocking.
Lastly, PTA did their best to block pornography, Still it is being seen all over the country, Blocking helped?
@Bushra and all others like her:
If a student is selling drugs inside a University and is causing harm to everyone around him, you do not close down the University but you kick him out. In this case there will be people who post stupid and insensitive content online but that doesn't mean we ban that website and lose a very good medium and source of information. As a Muslim do not seek out such content, do not publicize it and just report/flag it if you happen to come across something offensive.
Eid Mubarak!
@Aamer Khawaja: YouTube has refused to remove the blasphemous film and you want it to not be banned. Do you not fear ALLAH? There are millions of other ways to fulfil your "educational purposes". YouTube should remain banned.
Pakistan gave a strong signal to blasphemous sites. Even China had banned Google sometime ago. On one hand, the socalled "free media" of western countries writes everything about the sacred prophets and the religions but on the other hand does not utter a single word against the socalled holocaust topi-drama.
@Pakistani: Elite: any person who is able to read and write. In general, having the ability to have ones own thoughts on matters. Sane people. ( meaning courtesy brute force dictionary.)
Youtube is a great source of information,entertainment and learning. Govt. should act swiftly to remove inappropriate contents from website or block those contents and open youtube for Pakistanis.
@BruteForce: Sometimes I wonder how much different comments on ET would've been if our school books hadn't been altered during the Zia era
@bruteforce i hope you know what elite is..
@BruteForce: First of all, this website is not just for elites, its for the millions of middle-class people like me who use it for educational purpose most of the time. Thousands of lectures, do-it-yourselves, video demonstrations, etc. Secondly, youtube didnt blaspheme, a stupid man did, and the best way to fight it is to ignore it, no-one would like to see that or thousands of such videos if they chose not to.
And lastly, your analogy makes no sense.
A Web Site blasphemes it is let off the hook, because the elite want it. I wonder if human beings who are in jail currently in Pakistan get the same treatment.
So a Web Site is shown to be more important than a human life..