YouTube still blocked in Pakistan: PTA
Express News had reported that the website was unblocked after a three-month ban, while some internet users had also suggested that it worked briefly on their computers.
PTA officials, however, said that the authorities at the video sharing website have failed to comply with the demands of Pakistani government of removing blasphemous content and therefore, no decision has been made to lift the ban. The Ministry of Information Technology has also denied reports that YouTube has been unblocked.
On November 12, YouTube became accessible to at least three mobile phone operators.
In September, a short clip from a two hour long amateurishly produced film went viral after a translated version was broadcast in Egypt. The broadcast sparked violent reactions in Egypt where protesters stormed the US embassy. Violence subsequently broke out in other countries and the US embassy in Libya was also attacked.
Among the countries that requested YouTube and Google Inc to block access to the video, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Pakistan blocked the site after the internet giant refused to comply with requests.
COMMENTS (33)
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@Hina: may be
hahaha,, what a bunch of goofs some people are. They actually support their rights and liberties being taken away!!! These goofs shud rather go and live in prison, if they do not like their freedom. PTA or Pak government should be ashamed of taking such a decision, professionally! For their supporters,,, have this government ever done anything for you guys? Other tan restricting youre freedom and making everything three times more expensive ? Apnyy marwanee ke liyee khud hi aagee ho jatee ho !!! buhahahahaha
Please please keep it blocked! I don't use YouTube and so don't miss it at all. Also, there are ways around the block if I ever need to use it (which is unlikely). Being backward vindicates my stance that this country is going down the drain fast, with nothing but the anchors of fake morality and fake righteousness. I hope to get my visa soon, and say sayonara to you all! I would also appeal to the PTA to ban Google which is the parent company of YouTube.
wow great work pta.Ban the whole internet and let the people suffer your non sense decisions.
If could bring our own portal that provide video sharing service :
Will open thousands of jobs. Control over content. Save International bandwidth.@Zeeshan: Ironic. The ones who dies were killed by people who were supposedly protesting and professing their love to the Prophet PBUH. They weren't killed by the youtube.com agents or the evil magic of the blasphemous movie. So do learn to use logic. Also banning websites or anything of convenience causes inconvenience to genuine users. Block youtube, block phones, block everything and then lets see where it leads us to.
pakistani goverement can only destroy the opieace of a general man lviing in pakistan
why not they make a asoftware which automatically block suh videos in pakistan ??
and they have real; anger then what are they doping sitting still
they can"t talk which sucha natuions in frount of whom they had make pakistan a begger
this is a real truth
OPEN up youtube. it has caused us students more damage than u can actually think !!! we cant see videos for reference.cant learn anything.we need clips for our presentations.im a media student and im suffering alot. we havent seen the movie and just go for what other people say .STOP grow up if there is material related to our religion in a bad way IGNORE! ignorance is the best ounishment. y affecting the whole damn country just because of one thing jo hoti rehni hai humesha. let us stay in peace and khuda kelie humare mobiles n internet ki jaan chor k mulk sudhaarne ki bat kro.
Why do Pakistanis need Youtube? it was invented by Christians and Jews...
@Zeeshan: the same for mobile phones, ban them!!!! after all nobody has does without them and no one died when they were off... what a guy!
please youtube open karo
The continuous ban of utube solves no purpose when the whole world has an access to it. I believe that we registered our protest, now it is time to move ahead. For how long will we be banning access to various materials on the Web in its different forms. The best way to promote our cause is to present more and more material, based on our convictions and on logical arguments, on such mediums as utube and Facebook and other sites. We should face these new channels of information, rather than hiding ourselves from them.
We should keep in mind that utube also has millions of video clips that are directly related to the teaching of Islamic thoughts. In fact, we have also banned those Islamic channels, depriving the people of Pakistan to benefit from them. Moreover, there are thousands of utube clips that deal with Pakistan - Music, history, culture, politics, economics, and many more related subjects. We have blocked all that from the eyes of those who live in Pakistan, while the world goes on as usual. We have also blocked a modern source of education for the people of Pakistan.
Let us be vigilant as this government might not extend their powers by banning other media outlets, as well. The ruling party is foreseeing a rout in the next elections and might not block the public access to modern information means, such as mobile phones etc., as they might plan to rig the elections by shutting the whole country from the outside world.
The civil society must demand that utube should be immediately allowed to be seen in Pakistan and that any more "banning" of means of communication will not be tolerated, by a bunch of people who have no sense to administer this country.
@Zeeshan: Neither the video nor its maker has EVER killed ANY ONE SINGLE PERSON. Its the Muslim fanatics who killed people.
@Pessimist: Your comments are always spot on. Though @BruteForce has written a tongue in cheek comment, the reality is that the ban itself was illogical. After all why should someone who believes in Islam actually go looking for material that they know will offend them? If the ban was logical then there is no rationale for lifting it since the situation is unchanged. In fact as @Cautious says if the criteria for banning youtube were to apply then google search as well as any other search engine should also be banned for the reasons he stated.
Nonsensical step. Youtube will never comply so it will never be opened? Like wise why not ban internet altogether as it contains so much blasphemous stuff against all religions and they are not ready to remove it.
who cares? Everyone is using hotspot shield. (Even mullas) across the country but formally they shun lifting ban!
@Zeeshan: and you drama queens are the murderers. Not youtube.
From the day first of Youtube ban, I am enjoying it. One can easily access it through Hotspot Shield.
Yeah, they care about your 'orders'. They're sooooooo scared.
How can people justify lifting a simple ban on a website which blasphemed, when people get death for the same crime?
Are the inconvenience of the elite more important than the life of the alleged Blasphemer?
If you can leave this country....so dont think just do it...
For the sake of God, grow up Pakistan.
What's the use of banning? lost of revenue for people and channel who used it for productivity and finance.people are still using tools to access it.Google had failed to comply.Not everything is about ban, ban youtube, ban mobile, ban sim transfer.what's next ban internet? seriously!
ab to bus karo uncles ......kafi ho gai hai...
If offending Islam is your criteria for banning something then you might as well ban the Internet. To illustrate my point - do a Google search using the terms "Muhammad and pedophile" - over 2 millions hits. The internet (including Utube) isn't perfect but the benefits far outweigh the flaws - I suggest you focus on the benefits and ignore what you don't like.
Open Youtube....
Oh come on! Open it up already. There are so many lectures from top universities, TED talks, BBC documentaries, interesting videos. Why should everyone have to suffer for a single 'blasphemous' video? It's like burning down a library for a single objectionable book.
I applaud this decision by the PTA, they are morally correct. Clearly the biggest 'threat' to Islam are poorly made amateaur videos rather than the graves of Ahmadis being destroyed, Shias being persecuted, misue of 'blasphemy laws', demolition of churches & temples, prosecution of minorities and killing of foreign social workers. Well done! clapping
PTA trolls
Please also ban flatulations. People in this country eat daal-anda sandwhich and kill others silently.
Best regards, A concerned citizen
Till the time an agreement isn't reached between GoP and Google so as to honour country's request regarding restriction on the broadcast of some material, YouTube needs to stay blocked. No body isn't dying coz of this ban but many of have died because of what it had shown.