Pakistani government’s media control officer announced on the 6th (local time) that it had blocked access to Wikipedia. The reason is that the Wikipedia site deliberately transmits blasphemous content about Islam without deleting it, harming the Muslim sentiment.
Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting a Muslim or Muslim figure carries a maximum sentence of death. However, to date there has been no case of execution for blasphemy.
Yet even the mere publication of charges of blasphemy or contempt by the government makes it vulnerable to mob attacks and even assassination attacks. Because of this, Pakistani national and international human rights groups say that the declaration of impiety is often abused as a means of intimidating religious minorities or scoring individual personalities.
Pakistan’s Information and Communications Authority says it shut down Wikipedia because it violated an executive order to remove content within 48 hours. Malahat Obaid, a spokesman, said: “Such actions are seriously hurting Muslim sentiment.”
Therefore, the Pakistani authorities said, “After consulting with Wikipedia staff, we will lift the lockdown order after we completely delete anti-Islamic content.”
Hours later, Pakistan’s Public Affairs Minister Mariyoum Auranzeb announced that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif would order the immediate removal of Wikipedia, which would be welcomed by the public.
Meanwhile, the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization headquartered in California, USA, admitted on the 4th that the Pakistani government closed Wikipedia, saying, “The government understands our goal of protecting human rights and disseminating knowledge, and the Pakistani people can join together with the world. We ask that you resume access so we can share knowledge.”
Mosin Raja Khan, an Internet expert in Pakistan, commented that the ban is not a solution because content that is considered blasphemous by Muslims can be easily searched and accessed outside of Wikipedia.
He insisted, “Pakistan’s media control authorities must introduce a technological method to fundamentally stop the blasphemy overflowing everywhere, and the current measures are like stopping a drop of water in the ocean of knowledge.”
The Pakistani government once blocked access to TikTok twice, citing “immoral, ugly, and obscene content.” The blockade was lifted soon after TikTok promised to remove the content in question and prevent users from posting “illegal content.”
However, by the time the app in question was shut down in 2020 and 2021, it had already been circulated millions of times in Pakistan.
Pakistan also shut down YouTube in 2008 for posting videos depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Muslims generally tend to regard any realistic depiction of Mohammad as blasphemy and blasphemy.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.