Wikipedia services restored across Pakistan

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday restored Wikipedia services across Pakistan.

According to details, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif gave the PTA the order to unblock the service.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was earlier instructed by Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif to "quickly" reinstate the online encyclopedia Wikipedia after it was suspended for failing to "block/remove sacrilegious information."

The law, economic affairs, and information ministries were included in the committee the prime minister later formed for "a preliminary study of the matter."

“Blocking the site in its entirety was not a suitable measure to restrict access to some objectionable contents/ sacrilegious matter on it. The unintended consequences of this blanket ban, therefore, outweigh its benefits,” the statement added.

Pakistan degrades Wikipedia services over ‘sacrilegious content’

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked Wikipedia services in the country after the platform failed to remove blasphemous content.

The PTA stated in a statement that it contacted Wikipedia to request the removal of the offensive content by sending out a notification in accordance with applicable legislation and a court ruling (s).

“The platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority,” the statement read.