ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s media regulator said Monday it has blocked Wikipedia services in . Pakistan The country for hurting Muslim sentiments without removing allegedly . Blasphemous content from the site. Critics condemned Islamabad’s move, saying it was an attack on digital rights.
Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law. Anyone convicted of insulting Islam or its figures can be sentenced to death. although the country has yet to impose the death penalty for blasphemy.
But accusations of crime are . Often enough to trigger mob violence and even deadly attacks. International and domestic rights groups say accusations of blasphemy.
The Pakistan Telecommunication. Authority said it blocked Wikipedia because the 48-hour . Controller Malahat Obaid said, “Such incidents hurt the sentiments of Muslims.
He said Pakistani authorities were in talks with. Wikipedia officials and the ban could be lifted if the platform . Completely removes anti-Islamic content.
The Wikimedia Foundation confirmed . The ban on Saturday, saying: “We hope that the government of. Pakistan will join us in its commitment to knowledge as a . Human right and immediately restore access to @Wikipedia and . Wikimedia projects, so that the people of Pakistan can continue. to accept. and share knowledge with the world.”
Mohsin Raza Khan, a Pakistani social media expert, said it’s easy to update or replace content on . Blocking the site isn’t the answer.
“Media regulators and other. Authorities in Pakistan should try to find some effective technical . “It is like a drop in the ocean of knowledge.”
The Lahore-based Digital Rights Foundation earlier called the Wikipedia ban an affront to . Pakistanis’ right to access information and a mockery of the country’s . Commitment to human rights accountability.
In the past, Pakistan banned . TikTok twice for allegedly uploading “immoral, lewd and lascivious” content.
But the ban was lifted after . TikTok assured Pakistan that it would remove unethical content and. Block users who uploaded “illegal content”. The app was downloaded millions of times in Pakistan in 2020 and 2021 when the ban was imposed.
Also, in 2008, Pakistan banned YouTube for videos depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims generally believe . That any physical depiction of the Prophet of Islam is blasphemous.
Also on Monday, Amir Mahmood, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Ahmadi community. Sought protection from the government, sayingmanye separate attacks by . Unidentified Islamists had damaged . Ahmadi shrines in southern Sindh province and elsewhere in the country.
“The freedom of worship granted to us by. The Constitution is shrinking,” he told The Associated Press.
No casualties were reported in the days-long attack, Mahmud said.
The Parliament of Pakistan declared . Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974 Since then. Drawing international condemnation.
