No lifting of YouTube ban in Pak till blasphemous material filter blocking mechanism in place

YouTube will remain blocked in Pakistan unless a mechanism is adopted to permanently block blasphemous material on the website, the Ministry of Information Technology has told the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

A Peshawar High Court division bench comprising Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Malik Manzoor was hearing a petition filed by Mina Muhibbulah Kakakhel challenging the ban on YouTube.

According to the Express Tribune, the video-sharing website was blocked in September 2012 by former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.

The move came after the trailer of a blasphemous film, titled 'Innocence of Muslims', sparked outrage and violence among Muslims across the world.

The ban remained in effect after Google refused Islamabad's request to take down the video.

According to the report, advocate Kakakhel challenged the ban arguing that students were facing problems while searching for academic content and requested the court to direct authorities to filter all blasphemous material and unblock the site.

During the case hearing, the bench was informed the ministry has been devising methods to stop such material from being uploaded to YouTube.

The bench, however, was informed that unless a solution was found, the ministry will not unblock YouTube.