PM Shehbaz Directs to Immediately Restore Wikipedia in Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed to immediately restore Wikipedia services in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had blocked Wikipedia services in Pakistan on February 3 after it failed to remove sacrilegious content.

According to a handout issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, the matter of blocking the viewership of Wikipedia by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in Pakistan was placed before the prime minister today who constituted a ministerial committee for preliminary examination of the matter.

The committee included the Minister for Law and Justice, the Minister for Economic Affairs and Political Affairs and the Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

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 committee held its meeting and was of the considered opinion that Wikipedia was a useful website which supported dissemination of knowledge and information for the general public, students and the academia.

The committee said that 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.

Based on the above recommendation, the premier directed that Wikipedia maybe restored with immediate effect.

Further, in the exercise of his powers under par 17(2) of the Rules of Business, 1973, the prime minister constituted a cabinet committee to present a report with recommendations regarding the blocking of objectionable content for consideration by the federal cabinet within a week’s time.