Pakistan lifts ban on Wikipedia as govt overturns ‘unsuitable measure’ over blasphemous content

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has revoked the ban on Wikipedia, three days after the encyclopedia giant was blocked in the fifth most populous country for not removing blasphemous content.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday shared a copy of a tweet, which stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the country’s telecom regulator to restore the portal with immediate effect.

The matter was placed before Prime Minister Shehbaz on Monday who then formed a ministerial committee in this regard which suggested that Wikipedia was a useful site for disseminating knowledge and information and “the negative effects of the ban by PTA outweighed its benefits”.

Ministers of Law, Economics, and Information suggested ban, not a suitable measure to restrict access to the major website over objectionable content.

It further maintained that the committee is open to get help from experts on board or seek opinion from experts for the removal of objectionable content.

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

Earlier, the Wikimedia Foundation called on Pakistani authorities to reverse the ban, saying it believes that access to knowledge is a human right.

The telecom regulator previously shared a tweet, saying the intentional failure on the part of the platform to comply with the directions of PTA, the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents.

Several countries including China, Iran, Myanmar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela have banned Wikipedia over the time in wake of violations by the portal.

Pakistan bans Wikipedia over blasphemous content

The platform is among the top visited sites in the country as many students, researchers, and professionals rely on it for sourcing information.