Wikipedia went back online on Tuesday, after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered authorities to lift a ban on the online encyclopedia over “blasphemous content”.
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue, and Facebook and YouTube have previously banned content deemed blasphemous.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Maryam Aurangzeb tweeted a copy of the order saying, “The Prime Minister is pleased to direct that the website (Wikipedia) be restored immediately.”
The Wikimedia Foundation – the non-profit fund that manages Wikipedia – told JEE News on Monday that it was “informed that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has been directed to restore access to Wikipedia and hopefully online traffic will resume in Pakistan. Similarly.”
Last week, the PTA gave Wikipedia 48 hours to remove content it deemed “offensive” before blocking the website.
A spokesman for the agency said on Saturday that Wikipedia would remain blocked “until they remove all objectionable content”, without specifying which content was at issue.
On Tuesday, the website was accessible again.
‘Share Knowledge’
According to the order published on Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed a committee comprising three government ministers to review the PTA’s decision to block Wikipedia.
According to a document signed by Syed Tauqeer Shah, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the committee found that “the unintended consequences of this ban… far outweigh its benefits”.
He added that another ministerial committee would be set up to look into the matter further.
“People rely on Wikipedia as a source of knowledge and as a way to share their knowledge with others,” said a Wikimedia spokesperson.
“Removing this restriction means that people can benefit from and participate in the development of a global movement that seeks to spread and share verified, reliable and free knowledge.”
The organization did not immediately respond to JEE News query on whether it had taken any action to remove some of the content.
“The Wikimedia Foundation does not decide what content is added to Wikipedia or how that content is maintained,” it said in a previous statement.
“We respect and support the editorial decisions of the community of editors around the world,” it added.
Freedom of speech campaigners have highlighted it as an example of growing government censorship of Pakistan’s print and electronic media.
Pakistan blocked YouTube from 2012 to 2016 after it aired a film about the Prophet of Islam that sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.
In recent years, the country has also blocked the wildly popular video-sharing app TikTok multiple times for “immoral” and “immoral” content.
