Pakistan Blocks Twitter Website

Islamabad, May 21, IRNA – Pakistan blocked the social website of Twitter over releasing caricatures of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), officials said on Sunday. The government-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked twitter.com following orders by Minister of Information Technology. Zonal Directors have instructed all Internet Service Providers in their respective areas to immediately block the website at the URL level and to continuously monitor the same to ensure compliance with the instructions of the authority. Ministry of IT has also directed the PTA to remain alert and watchful and block all links displaying profane caricatures immediately. The Ministry of IT has requested the public at large to contact a dedicated Telephone No 0800-5505 and e-mail address: complaint@pta.gov.pk, to transmit necessary information, should anything to the effect of objectionable caricature get displayed/propagated at any website. Pakistan had also temporarily blocked Facebook in 2010 after it published blasphemous cartoons./end