PTA banned Twitter in Pakistan over 'blaspemous' content

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Mon, May 21) – Microblogging site Twitter was blocked in Pakistan on Sunday in protest of r a competition to post caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W).

PTA banned Twitter in Pakistan over 'blaspemous' content

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesperson Muhammad Younis Khan said, "The website has been banned by Ministry of Information Technology and the decision was conveyed to us. There was blasphemous material on Twitter." 

The reports published in English Daily Dawn said the material in question was promoting a competition on Facebook which involved posting images of the Holy Prophet.

While Facebook agreed to address concerns over the competition, Twitter had so far failed to comply with the PTA's requests to remove the content, the reports further mentioned.

Back in 2010 a Pakistani court ordered to block Facebook because of a similar kind of competition organized by an anonymous Facebook user who called on people to draw the Prophet to promote so-called "freedom of expression".

Islam firmly disallows the portrayal of any prophet as blasphemous. Muslims across the globe staged angry protests over the publication of satirical cartoons of Holy Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers four years ago.

Report Tags: Twitter, Facebook, Prophet Muhmmad, Blasphemous material on twitter, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, PTA, Twitter blocked in Pakistan