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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan lifted its ban on Wikipedia companies earlier than daybreak Tuesday, after the nation’s media regulator blocked the positioning final week for not eradicating purportedly blasphemous content material, claiming it hurts the emotions of Muslims.

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Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the unblocking late on Monday, based on a authorities assertion. The location was blocked on Friday by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, after a deadline expired that Pakistan gave to Wikipedia to take away the controversial content material.

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The ban drew criticism and plenty of Islamabad’s motion, saying it was a blow to digital rights and disadvantaged the general public of the proper to hunt data.

As anger grew, Pakistan’s Info Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb mentioned on Monday that Sharif’s five-member committee had seemed into the matter and ordered Wikipedia companies be restored instantly.

The federal government has not supplied any clarification or particulars in regards to the content material it deemed anti-Islam, and the media regulator by no means defined what content material was purportedly hurting Muslim sentiments in Pakistan.

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Below Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy legal guidelines, anybody discovered responsible of insulting Islam or its figures will be sentenced to loss of life, though the nation has but to hold out capital punishment for blasphemy.

However even allegations of the offense are sometimes sufficient to impress mob violence and even lethal assaults. Worldwide and home rights teams say that accusations of blasphemy have usually been used to intimidate non secular minorities and settle private scores.

The Wikimedia Basis welcomed the lifting of the ban. Its assertion mentioned the lifting of the ban “signifies that the folks of Pakistan can proceed to learn from and take part” within the development of a world motion “to unfold and share data that’s verified, dependable and free.”

Previously, Pakistan briefly banned TikTok twice for importing immoral content material. Additionally, in 2008, Pakistan banned YouTube over movies depicting the Prophet Muhammad, drawing indignant nationwide protests as Muslims contemplate any bodily depiction of the prophet blasphemous.