Access to Twitter Restored in Pakistan: ProPakistani

Access to Twitter Restored in Pakistan

Posted: 20 May 2012 10:47 AM PDT

After a ban for a day, amid any possible access of blasphemous material to Pakistani audience on Draw Mohammad Day, access to micro blogging website has been restored in Pakistan.

Concerned officials have confirmed ProPakistani that access to Twitter has restored after they received orders from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

As per reports we are getting, Twitter is now accessible on majority of ISPs, while the completion of restoration process may take couple of hours on remaining ISPs.

As we reported earlier, this ban was of temporary nature and was supposed to get lifted after Draw Mohammad Day.

However, as per our sources, ban was lifted before time due to bad name the incident had earned for Pakistan, especially in foreign media.

Pakistan, earlier in the morning had blocked access to Internet for Pakistani internet users – fearing that blasphemous material could reach the users through internet – because organizers of Draw Mohammad Day for 2012 had plans to share cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) through Twitter, to protest the arrest of Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari for writing "insulting" tweets about the Prophet.

PTA, the regulatory authority for telecom and internet in Pakistan, had contacted Twitter administration to make necessary arrangements for blocking access of blasphemous content in Pakistan, to which Twitter didn't agree resulting into a ban to website in Pakistan.

In a related news, Dr. Rehman Malik, Interior Minister, is claiming that the restoration of Twitter should be credited to him. He tweeted following just minutes ago:

Twitter Blocked in Pakistan for One Day [Updated]

Posted: 20 May 2012 03:27 AM PDT

Twitter, a famous microblogging website, has been blocked in Pakistan since morning. Action has been taken on direct orders from Raja Parvez Ashraf, Minister for Information and Technology, our sources tell us. ~~Though it is unclear if the ban is temporary or permanent in nature.~~

ProPakistani users are already reporting that Twitter isn't accessible on almost every ISP in Pakistan.

It merits mentioning here that Twitter is still accessible in Pakistan through proxy websites and third party applications.

According to reliable sources, Mr. Ashraf directed for stern action against websites that are directly or indirectly publishing blasphemous content.

According to reports that we have got so far, PTA contacted Facebook and Twitter to them to restrict the access to the pages that were showcasing the blasphemous content but Twitter didn't oblige.

PTA is of the view that it constantly asked these websites to restrict these pages in Pakistan until they threatened that if even one page reached viewers in Pakistan both websites will be banned.

We are awaiting for an official stance and more details on the incident. We will update this story when and if we get any updates (We have updated, check below for more).

Industry sources say that Facebook is under threat as well, however, blockade of Facebook isn't sanctioned so far.

The Blasphemous contest that encourages drawings of Holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) started in May 2010. These contests, that happen every year now, have cause agitation in many Muslim countries especially in Pakistan.

More details to follow.

Update:

We have got the confirmation that decision for blocking Twitter was taken yesterday on account of Draw Mohammad Day, during a meeting held at Ministry of Information Technology and chaired by Raja Parvez Ashraf, Federal Minister for Information and Technology. Meeting was attended by MoIT members, PTA and other concerned stake holders.

A source who is directly aware of the meeting told ProPakistani that it was decided that Twitter will remain blocked on May 20th, 2012 to avoid any possible access of blasphemous content to Pakistani internet users.

We are told that this blockade is temporary and it is likely that Twitter will be made available to internet users in Pakistan later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Internet users in Pakistan are voicing against the blockade of Twitter, who feel that they even didn’t remember that May 20th was a Draw Mohammad Day. They opine that by blocking Twitter the government is kind of promoting something that wasn’t even in their minds.

Update:

Access to Twitter Restored in Pakistan