Pakistan likely to get YouTube back by May: Report
Sources say IT ministry to hold video conference with Google administration next week to discuss the matter.
The IT ministry took up the matter with US diplomatic level and eventually succeeded to convince the Google administration. DESIGN: ANUSHAY FURQAN
ISLAMABAD:
The ban on video-sharing website YouTube is likely to be lifted in the first week of May following talks between the Google administration and the Ministry of Information Technology, sources told The Nation on Monday.
Google had earlier declined Pakistan’s demand of permanently blocking blasphemous content on the website owing to the absence of necessary laws and agreements between Pakistan and the US. According to the sources, negotiations this time were proving to be fruitful.
The IT ministry “took up the matter with US diplomatic level and eventually succeeded to convince the Google administration. Both sides to remove sacrilegious’ content from YouTube on good faith have so far agreed to meet in a video conference next week,” the sources were quoted as saying.
Two proposals are likely to be placed by Pakistani authorities during the video conference, the sources further said.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had banned YouTube in September 2012 after Google turned down Islamabad’s request to remove the blasphemous video ‘Innocence of Muslims’, which sparked violence in the Muslim world including Pakistan.
Correction: An earlier version of the article quoted Indian news agency ANI for the report. However, the report was first carried by Pakistani newspaper The Nation which was quoted by ANI.
The ban on video-sharing website YouTube is likely to be lifted in the first week of May following talks between the Google administration and the Ministry of Information Technology, sources told The Nation on Monday.
Google had earlier declined Pakistan’s demand of permanently blocking blasphemous content on the website owing to the absence of necessary laws and agreements between Pakistan and the US. According to the sources, negotiations this time were proving to be fruitful.
The IT ministry “took up the matter with US diplomatic level and eventually succeeded to convince the Google administration. Both sides to remove sacrilegious’ content from YouTube on good faith have so far agreed to meet in a video conference next week,” the sources were quoted as saying.
Two proposals are likely to be placed by Pakistani authorities during the video conference, the sources further said.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had banned YouTube in September 2012 after Google turned down Islamabad’s request to remove the blasphemous video ‘Innocence of Muslims’, which sparked violence in the Muslim world including Pakistan.
Correction: An earlier version of the article quoted Indian news agency ANI for the report. However, the report was first carried by Pakistani newspaper The Nation which was quoted by ANI.