Following a two-day suspension, Pakistan has lifted its ban on Wikipedia after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to do so “immediately” on Monday.
According to a statement from the PM’s Office, the decision was made based on the recommendations of a three-person ministerial committee made up of Ministers for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister for Economic Affairs and Political Affairs Ayaz Sadiq, and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb.
PTA stated that it was “degrading” Wikipedia services in Pakistan on February 1 due to the platform’s failure to delete “sacrilegious content” after being requested to do so. After the encyclopaedia failed to address the concerns two days later, it was fully outlawed, which infuriated the nation.
Following this event, the ban’s problem was brought before the prime minister on February 6 (today), and he established a ministerial committee to conduct an initial investigation of the subject. Wikipedia was a helpful site/portal that encouraged the diffusion of knowledge and information for the general public, students, and academics, the committee concluded, according to the statement.
“Blocking the website entirely was not the best course of action for limiting access to certain of its undesirable elements or sacrilegious material. Therefore, the benefits of this broad restriction are outweighed by its unforeseen effects,” the declaration said.
Furthermore, PM Shehbaz established a fresh cabinet committee in accordance with the Rules of Business, 1973, to investigate the situation further. The members of this committee will include the ministers of law and justice, economic affairs, political affairs, information and broadcasting, commerce, and communications, as well as the minister of IT and telecommunication, who will also serve as the committee’s head.
A further clause of the order allowed the committee to “co-opt any expert members or seek opinions from expert individuals/organizations to attain its findings.”