Pakistan Communication Authority Issues Directives to Block Web Sites

The Pakistan Communication Authority has issued directives to ISPs to block six web sites. According to The International News:

"The directive came on the orders of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for the Evaluation of Websites. The IMC constitutes representatives of the Ministry of IT, PTA, Ministry of Interior and Cabinet Division. Its charter is to monitor and block blasphemous, pornographic, and anti-state or anti-Pakistan sites."

According to the same site, however, the sites that were ordered to be blocked did not fit into that category:

"Three of the six webpages on the list issued by the PTA, however, are from dictatorshipwatch.com, a website set up after November 3, 2007, when then-President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf implemented a state of emergency in the country. One webpage is from makepakistanbetter.com, a social and political discussion forum. The fifth page is from friendskorner.com, a general discussion forum, while the sixth webpage is a node from buzzvines.com. Most of the blocked webpages contained articles which claimed to provide information about Punjab Governor Salman Taseer’s “history”; others had pictures of members of Taseer’s family at lavish parties thrown recently at the Punjab Governor House."

The Pakistan ICT Policy Monitors network has also posted about the matter.