Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday restored Wikipedia after the online encyclopedia was restricted for ‘blasphemous content’ last week. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb shared a copy of the order saying, “The Prime Minister is pleased to direct that the website (Wikipedia) may be restored with immediate effect.”
“The Prime Minister has also constituted a Cabinet Committee on matters related to Wikipedia and other online content,” the tweet added.
Prime Minister @CMShehbaz has directed that the Wikipedia website be restored with immediate effect. The Prime Minister has also constituted a Cabinet Committee on matters related to Wikipedia and other online content. pic.twitter.com/fgMj5sqTun
— Marriyum Aurangzeb (@Marriyum_A) February 6, 2023
The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit fund managing Wikipedia, told the news agency AFP that it “was made aware that the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) had been directed to restore access to Wikipedia”. The Foundation expected to witness online traffic in Pakistan to resume soon.
Last week, Wikipedia was allotted 48 hours to withdraw the content deemed “blasphemous” before the website was blocked. An agency spokesperson on Saturday said Wikipedia would “remain blocked until they remove all the objectionable material”, without specifying what content was at issue.
Sharif had instructed to form a committee made up of three government ministers to examine the PTA’s decision to block Wikipedia, according to the published order.
The committee found that the “unintended consequences of this blanket ban… outweigh its benefits”, the document, signed by principal secretary to prime minister Syed Tauqir Shah, said.
“The people of Pakistan rely on Wikipedia both as a knowledge resource and as a pathway to share their knowledge with others”, a Wikimedia spokesperson said.
Blasphemy is considered a sensitive issue in the Muslim-dominated country of Pakistan. Facebook and YouTube have already been blocked due to content deemed blasphemous.
The Pakistan Telecom Authority issued complaints to Wikipedia and Google Inc in December 2020 for “disseminating sacrilegious content,” while the country restricted YouTube from 2012 to 2016.
Pakistan has also blocked TikTok multiple times in recent years for failing to cease publishing “indecent” and “immoral” content.
