The Pakistani government blocked on Friday some 800 websites and webpages that have been identified to contain “blasphemous” materials, a Pakistan official reported
Following the ban of popular social networking sites like Facebook, Youtube, and MySpace, the Pakitan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has extended its Internet control to some 800 webpages, including restrictions on Wikipedia access, in line with its belief that the following pages contains “sacrilegious contents.”
“Since the our government’s order to ban access to Facebook and Youtube, at least 800 individual webpages and web addresses have been blocked to prevent our people from viewing or reading such blasphemous contents,” Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan Spokesperson Wahaj Us Siraj.
The order came after the “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” on Facebook has been removed.
The said competition was aimed to promote “freedom of expression” among Muslim communities. But the government immediately seized control since Islam Law prohibits such illustration and depiction of their holy prophet.
Also, millions of conservative Muslims in other countries were angered by the said contest. Even moderate and well-educated elite expressed disappointment over the said action but stressed that the blanket ban on the popular website is “too much.”
They said that the ban should only be implemented on the webpage that has done the sacrilegious contents and not the entire Facebook website.
But PTA, along with the Internet service providers in Pakistan, vowed to block or close down any attempt in restoring the social networking site.
Before being closed down, the “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” Facebook page has attracted over 105, 000 fans and has produced over five pages of “crudely manipulated” pictures and caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.
Meahwhile, PTA Spokesman Khurram Mehran stressed that the ban on Facebook will only be lifted if they receive instructions from their government.
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