IT Ministry Confirms LHC Ban Orders for 9 websites including Google, Yahoo

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has confirmed that it has received ban orders from Lahore High Court on Thursday to ban Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, Bing, YouTube, Amazon etc , reported BBC Urdu, citing unnamed sources in the Ministry.

It merits mentioning here that inter-ministerial committee of IT Ministry decides on how to and why to ban or not to ban a website. Committee is reportedly meeting today to discuss the implication, execution and procedures of the ban.

IT Ministry has an option of getting stay-order from Supreme Court against LHC’s decision; however, all these options will be discussed in today’s meeting.

Unlike Facebook’s ban previous month, LHC’s current ban orders for search engines were not welcomed by the masses.

Earlier this week, Lahore High Court had ordered to immediately block nine websites for publishing and promoting sacrilegious material while hearing a writ petition filed by a citizen, Muhammad Sidiq, seeking a ban on the websites for publishing blasphemous materials and twisting the facts and figure of Holy Quran.

PTA  has already sent a summary to Prime Minister of Pakistan to discuss ban options of offensive websites – summary has details on implications of banning search engines and social media.

Ban includes 9 websites, which are considered as backbone of internet, blocking them will mean a total internet blackout in the country.

Update:

Inter-Ministerial committee has decided to ban all those URLs containing blasphemous content, as directed by LHC, however, search engines won’t get blocked in accordance to decision that was earlier taken by Federal Cabinet.

In this regards, Ministry of IT and Telecom will send a list of 17 websites to PTA for a permanent ban.

Moreover, Ministry in its letter will ask PTA to keep monitoring the web for any occurrence of blasphemous content to block them immediately.

Search Engines won’t get Banned:

Committee decided not to ban search engines, as they don’t host or store any content. However, options are considered to make it impossible to search for certain keywords on search engines.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • BAN KAB LAGAY GA>…me to intezaar kar raha hoon
    mere pass b bohat se aisi websites hein…i told before that website on call to PTA on their toll free number…but they didnt listen to me ..and they didnt block that website…i also email to propakistani admin… but he also didnt reply me…

    • ______ decision ____ ______ dont know there are alot of people earning some bucks from these sites what will they do…

      at last i want 2 say……………
      ____ pakistan

      [comment edited]

  • i think they all are gone mad. if they blocked these webiste then im going to use proxy address. Its enough. I supported facebook ban but I will not support this ban. I will use proxy address.

  • i think more emphesis should be on teaching masses whats are true facts and what are twisted.. banning everything wont work!

  • why search engines there isn’t any fault of them they just provide secondary websites data, decision takers are mad if this happen no one gonna use internet from there end.

  • This is EXACTLY what I didn’t like about a ban being imposed by the government. This decision of censorship should be imposed only after taking consent from civilian bodies and by people who actually have some frikkin’ idea of what the internet is. They started off with Facebook, creating a mass hysteria and now will exploit it against any and every channel that they find speaks against the government. The idiots and fools that they are!!!

  • Oh come on, nobody wants to play nomore? You all started this, remember? A month ago, anybody who stood up for internet freedom was labelled an ‘agent’, and now look where we are.

    Lets hope they ban jeans and t-shirts next. And cars. It’ll be fun to ride around on camels.

  • پوری دنیا میں تقریبا 1000000 سے بھی زیادہ سرچ انجن موجود ہیں . لاہور ہائی کورٹ کس کس کو بین کرے گی. اور پاکستانی عوام کی اکثریت جاہل ہے لیکن اتنی بھی بے دینی نہیں کہ اس قسم کے کونٹنٹس (contents)کو سرچ کرے بلکہ ہمیشہ ہی اس کی مذمت کرے گی.
    زبیر

  • IF LHC ordered Due To Religious Matter Then It Is a Good Decision. Search Engines Are Not Importnt for us if we Compare with our Religion.

    • Wow! We got some stupid community as well, Nice to see some old mind retards commenting in the favor of ban.

    • You’re one of those people that types “www.facebook.com” into Google, aren’t you?

    • Khurram your comments doesnt make any sense at all. For example LHC bans namaz and zakat, will you still say, “If LHC ordered due to religious matter then it is a good decision”. Why would somone ban google, yahoo and bing when they are the backbone of internet. if at you wana ban, ban pornsites, blasphemous sites not the whole internet by blocking search engine.

  • LHC justice and that citizen must never have used internet in their life :P

    All I can say is get a life

    This is the height of stupidity. If some people have problem them stop using internet instead of asking others and if they do not listen then forcing them to do what they think is right.

    Idiots

  • To block search engines is just act of foolishness from government ohhh i forgot what can we aspect from bunch of retarded uneducated peoples…

    • Here we goes with another Retard. They are out of their minds “Look at the username Technocolony” and dont know about the technology. Its a search engine and we need that to keep up with the World.

      Why you join religion & World matter together.

  • What a bunch of idiots.
    Google is just a search engine and whatever you will search there, it will appear.

    I don’t think that any muslim will dare to search some blasphemous content on google. Also, on youtube there are a lot of muslims who are uploading content that is to strengthen islam.

    I highly condemn this ban

  • I think our Judges have gone crazy. They don’t even know anything about Internet. Blocking these important sites mean they are blocking the whole internet in country. First of all Search engines only index websites they dont store blasphemous materials so there no fault of search engines.

    I completely oppose dis stupid idea of blocking these sites. Rather than doing dis they should permanently ban facebook.

    I will use proxy to access these site

  • Its good to take action againts the twisting of facts and figure of Holy Quran but we should keep in mind that why these websites doing this. Search engines are back bone of the internet. Only the links should be blocked that publish unethical material.

  • someone tell them about porn sites to block those too…
    are they doing this 9 blocking to make pakistaniz ,not to condemn any act of anti islam again…

  • has the judges gone insane

    did he ever used internet or even knows the complete features of mobile phone he carries

    next time some will send a letter containing bad images i think he will block the postage service

  • very good decision now LHC should ban on English Language and ban on export to these heretic nations,ban to import military arsenals from these heretic nations also. after all it is the matter of our Pakistani brand of Islam.

  • Today, Internet means Google, Yahoo and Hotmail.

    If they ban these websites, then this internet thing will be useless for almost 99% of users…

  • I think there are very refined blocking mechanisms out in the market now, which allow you to block specific content. Blocking of search engines is not the solution. The objective should be to ban the objectionable sites…whatever sort they might be. UAE has a similar ban on web sites which are hosting objectionable (by their standards =)). But it doesn’t prevent these sites from being looked up on search engines. The only blocking is the website itself. Perhaps the current ban from LHC doesn’t capture the root cause of the problem.

  • The person who filed petition to the Court should be evaluated religiously
    Is he Namazi
    Follow summat?
    is he Hafiz?
    If the complaint is genuine than the actual links must be immediately blocked but the search engine should not be blocked because due to this access we got information that someone has done this stupidity
    we must keep posted with each change happening in the world otherwise we will be unaware

  • stupid and retarded decision … i was so happy when i heard the desicion of the case against fb owners and them being arrested through interpol and stuff… that was the right SORT OF approach… this is just plain stupid

  • First big reason not to block Google because from Google Pakistani many webmaster earned money from it and second reason is many Pakistani advertisers invest money on Google to advertise there product or site and there is so many reasons like that related to Google,yahoo, Hotmail etc i hope you will understand what i mean to say Thanks

  • its a wrong decision. google is a big informative website. google ke bagair internet/dsl/broadband ka kia benefit?. ye bohat hi bad decision hai. is ko wapis lena chaye. is se pakistan kay bohat se professions ko bohat nuqsaan ho ga. my decision is that its a wrong wrong wrong…..

    from : Mr Kamal (it expert)

  • Hi,
    I hope this will be another good drama of our govt,like facebook’s case, and if they done then who will have ability to provide free mail service to Pakistanis, no one, even our own Pakistanis will not give us free email service and free chat service and search engine, so court just think about that, why they are imposing that kind of restrictions on internet usage, this bloody idiot court & govt didn’t ever try to block any sexy or nude site which are much much much in no’s, and every one open it easily and spreading dirtiness to all pakistan, from many areas of Pakistan people are making their own nude videos and uploading it on internet, in this time where is govt and court role, no role.

    I am personally observing the situation from since 1998 when I learn the Internet service,that nude sites are allowed sto open in Pakistani territory, from that time upto now many govt servants came many judges came many masses are also involve in that whole scenario but i didn’t ever saw any person who took any action on illegal activities, we are that kind of Muslims MashAllah SubhanAllah, and now our ghairat is awakes that these sites or search engines which helped us a lot in our studies and still giving us much information that should be blocked, i must ask them why…….

    Pakistani govt don’t have so much efficiency to make their own search engines which will provide us knowledge and help us in different matters, their HEC still don’t have enough efficiency to produce good staff which will polish our youth skills in colleges & universities and govt is closing that search engine doors for us which are now main source to get information from international markets.MashaAllah our govt have efficiency to waste our given taxes in their parties in their foreign tours.

    I don’t know that why this govt and today’s courts are behaving in much idiot way.
    Their are much other problems who will solve them, but unfortunately our courts and govt’s ghairat is awaking for that problems but that internet is giving them much problem.

    My dear courts and govt i request you to stop doing this, may be internet is source of nudity for those who have much amounts in their pockets, but khudda ra look that beside that situation internet is also helping us a lot in our education.we are learning much from this source.i hope masses will understand me.
    and i also hope that Mr Aamir will publish my post same i write here, because i discuss some issues and realities which now we need to open & discuss in front of local masses so they can see that what we are and what we are trying to do.may be some one from us will help our courts and govt so that they think about realistic issues rather than these on which they are trying to emphasize and making drama in every issue rather producing any positive outcome.
    Pray for Pakistan and do good always think positive and do positive, so we shall make this Pakistan more beautiful than before INSHALLAH

    We Love our great PAKISTAN
    Because their is no place like Pakistan for us, it is Allah’s gift for us so plz try to protect it as you can.
    Allah Hafiz

  • This bullshit decision by the most ILLICIT and ILLITERATE body simply states END OF PAKISTAN !!!

    • Engineer sab, I am also Engineer by profession, and I am not a politicians who glue every small problem with the “End of Pakistan”, that is height of disloyalty to our country. Please don’t be like those politicians.

  • They dont have sence.
    Ban on these site is very harmful for students.A sensible muslim can not wish to see this blaphamous material.
    I think LHC jwery want to protect himself from watching this so that they want to block these sites.

  • There are thousands of internet users who use Google Apps for running their marketing campaigns, myself being one of them. Small-scale entrepreneurs will suffer heavily if PTA goes with this idiotic ban.

    I agree with one gentleman above who pointed out the if the judge receives a parcel containing information which he doesn’t like then will he go for banning the various courier services from operating, and the closure of the Pakistan Post?

    If yes, then I say go ahead ban the net. Otherwise , take back your stupid decision.

  • IT Ministers,Courts and Government is well aware of the internet search engines,look at the bigger picture,they are doing all this foolish acts to show off the world that Pakistanis are real extremists and these illetrate Pakistanis are having the nuclear weapons,by declaring us as the most foolish nation on the globe,they will declare war by making all their evil efforts to prove their point,so Govt and everyother person is working for their agenda,so forget it and lets use the proxy,they are the worst creature ever to exist in today’s world..
    Pakistan Zindabaad..!!

  • What about adsense ?
    If govt ban google will gmail and adsense also be baned or they just ban google search engine.

  • Hmmm Listen All,
    This is Nt gonna happen, Its imposible. sub bqwas hai.. These Sites are backbone of internet. blocking it can cost Pakistani pplz aggregated millions of loss.. And pak ne koi dark age ma tu nahi jana k inhe ban kar den..
    So Every one just relax. ITs guarantee that this is nt gonna happen…
    ;)

  • It Will Be very very bad to ban search engine as it will result total black out for researchers, students and all and if they ban yahoo, hotmail and gmail then will pakistani govt will provide free email for us and also if they ban google adsense then it will effect on foreign revenue as many people are earning money from adsense and if adsense baned then govt will provide an evidence to spread unemployment bcoz after google ban many websites and there admin, editors and whole company will die with poverty.
    So govt must have to think before applying this foolishk step and they have to ban porn websites and the links which are bad for muslims.

  • pakistano govt is foolish, google, yahoo, msn, like websites is equal to 70% of the internet use in pakistan

  • lol aik baar facebook block kya kar lya apnay aap ko buhat bari chez he samajh li hai LHC nay. google HAR STUDENT KI ZINDAGI HAI

    maine khud itni baar google aur hotmail etc use kye hai EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES K LYE!!!!

    inhay ye baat samajh nai aati k agr aik site pe (suppose wo google k thru mila link) blasphemy hai ya Islam k against koi baat ki hai, to log US BAAT ko confirm karnay k lye google pe he search karain gay aur US GHALAT BAAT KO OPPOSE KARNAY WALI SITES ZIYADA HO GI, JIS SE PTA CHAL JAYE GA K WO BAAT SACH NAI

    ab hum internet pe kya sirf pakistan ki page khol k bethay rahay jb google, live, hotmail, youtube etc etc ban hai

  • Lawyers want to be popular in Media & everywhere again.

    Now internet Banning is the New thing which will bring them back to People,s talk again.

    idiot lawyers are actually lowyers!!

  • i have to spend another 50 hours in coding ultimate proxy :}

    anyways, decsions is pretty ultimate-mature, looks like it is taken by an old school head master who still wants us to write down “how Mr.Chips died” …

  • I think that’s not possible to ban only Google search because if you login any Google service you automatically divert to Google.com domain that’s i think it’s not possible.

  • Bad move again by LHC. you can’t ban search engines whatever you can do but not this time.

  • Lagta hai LHC ka judge CDA k chairman ki tarah hai, jis nay aik presentation main chawal mari thi, us ko aik presentation de rahe the to server main prob agaya, us nay puch kia masla hai presentation start karo, logon nay kaha sir server ko masla ho gaya hai. us nay aghar server ko masla ho gaya hai to kisi aur ko bula lo. these people have no idea what is internet at all.

  • You are all getting side lined from the real issue. you have no electricty so who gives a f&$k about the Internet! Go and burn some books while you are at it !

  • today, PTA ordered ISPs and Mobile operators to block 17 entire sites while selected links on 7 search engines

  • Lo ek aur sun lo k ek bande ne ye sites band na karne pe pta director and latif khosa pe tohen adalat ka case kar dya he aur ye khabr mene abhi express news pe suni he.
    Kon log hen ye yar jo search engines aur adsense type sites ko band karvan chahte hen kya ye jahil log hen ya students klye search engine ki importance ko nhen jante ya phir ye nhen jante k adsnse se kitne logon ki rozi roti chal rahi he aur pakistan ko kitna foreign revenue mil raha he aur phir gmail type email service band hone se email service kon de ga, smajh nhen ati kon log hen ye.
    Kon log ho tussi yaar


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