Government decides to continue YouTube ban

Pakistan banned YouTube over clips from a film hosted on the website that sought to ridicule Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).

Contrary to the wishes and expectations of many among the general public, its representatives in the government have decided to continue a ban on video sharing website YouTube due to lack of cooperation, Geo.tv reported Wednesday.

The decision was made during National Assembly’s standing committee on Information Technology.

During the meeting, Ministries of Law and Information Technology said that complete blocking of anti-Islamic content on the website was impossible. They further added that YouTube was not willing to extend cooperation to the government of Pakistan in the matter.

Pakistan had banned YouTube over clips from a sacrilegious film hosted on the website that sought to ridicule Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) on September 17, 2012.

The amateurishly produced film, Innocence of Muslims, caused furore across the Muslim world precipitating into mass street protests in Egypt, Libya and in Pakistan among other Muslim countries.

The site was recently blocked in Egypt over the video.