Supreme Court moved to have YouTube unblocked

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 24 August 2015

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to unblock YouTube, citing difficulties faced by students and researchers. The ban has been in place since 2012 due to past controversies.

Summary

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was urged Monday through a petition that it should order unblocking of YouTube in the country. The petition was filed by chief of Watan Party Barrister Zafarullah Khan in the court's Lahore registry. The petitioner said that a large number of students and researchers were facing difficulties due to ban on the video-sharing website. “The government has slapped a ban on YouTube for indefinite period and this is totally against the constitution,” the petition said. The website was initially blocked in Pakistan on September 18, 2012 following directives from the Supreme Court. The ban was imposed after violent protests broke out all over the country in reaction to a blasphemous film, Innocence of Muslims, uploaded to the website’s servers that outraged Muslims all across the world. On the other hand, the government says it is trying to localise YouTube through legislation so that blasphemous content on it should be blocked and censored.

KEY POINTS:

• Supreme Court petitioned to unblock YouTube in Pakistan.
• Petition filed by Watan Party chief Zafarullah Khan.
• Students and researchers facing access issues due to the ban.
• YouTube was initially blocked in 2012 after violent protests.
• Government aims to localize YouTube to manage blasphemous content.