ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has formally taken up with YouTube the matter of blocking of the channel of late Dr Israr Ahmed over allegation of hate speech and asked the video-sharing platform to review its decision.

Official sources revealed to Business Recorder that the unilateral shutdown of Dr Israr Ahmed’s channel, a prominent Muslim scholar, raises questions about the arbitrary limits of online expression. The closed YouTube channels included videos of Dr Ahmed explaining Islamic discourse including Quranic teachings and lectures on implementation of Islamic system in social and cultural field etc. Such videos are only intended for the purpose of educating the viewers, the sources added.

The biggest video sharing website, YouTube has taken down the official web channel of Islamic scholar Dr Ahmed over allegations of carrying anti-Semitic comments.

However, the followers of the Islamic scholar expressed resentment over the initiative and claimed that he was a great scholar of Islam who never preached violence and urged his followers to get education and learn modern technology.

Dr Ahmed’s channel had nearly three million subscribers and his lectures were admired by a large number of people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022