Pakistan To Unblock YouTube: Interior Minister

Islamabad, Dec 30, IRNA – Pakistan has decided to unblock YouTube that was blocked some 100 days ago after a U.S-based anti-Islam video was uploaded, the country’s Interior Minister said. Rehman Malik said late Friday that a decision has been taken to unblock the site in 24 hours. “I chaired a high level meeting with all stakeholders on the YouTube. Good job by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block anti-Islamic material Pl expect YouTube unblocked in 24hrs,” the minister said in his tweet. Pakistan had blocked the site on September 17, by the Federal Cabinet after violent protest erupted against the anti-Islam film in Pakistan. The film had sparked violent riots across the Muslim world after a translated version was aired on Egyptian television. The violence saw American embassy in Cairo and in Libya attacked. Malik added that those who had been pressing him to unblock the site should be happy now. “There was a great demand to unblock Youtube from all sections of society especially fellow tweets. Expect the notification today! Hope you are all happy now,” he said in another tweet. Pakistan had blocked the YouTube after the social site refused a request from Pakistan to remove the video. Officials now say that the authorities have installed such system which can filter un-Islamic materials. Malik said that the “PTA is finalizing negotiations for acquiring a powerful firewall software to totally block pornographic and blasphemous material.” The PTA has formed a committee to look into ways how the video sharing site could be unblocked while not in conflict with court orders on blasphemous material. Malik has maintained on numerous occasions that any decision to unblock the site would be taken by the Cabinet His tweet indicates that the government, after failing to convince Google, or YouTube, has managed to put in place individual blocks on urls for the video in a work around to reopen the site./end