ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday ordered the restoration of access to Wikipedia with immediate effect.

The matter of blocking the viewership of Wikipedia by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on 3rd February 2023 was placed before the prime minister who constituted a ministerial committee for preliminary examination of the matter.

The committee comprises: Minister for Law and Justice; Minister for Economic Affairs and Political Affairs; and Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

The committee held its meeting and was of the considered opinion that Wikipedia is a useful site/portal which supports the dissemination of knowledge and information for the general public, students, and academia.

Blocking the site in its entirety was not a suitable measure to restrict access to some objectionable contents/sacrilegious matter on it.

The unintended consequences of this blanket ban, therefore, outweigh its benefits.

Based on the above recommendation, the prime minister directed that the website (Wikipedia) may be restored with immediate effect. Further, in exercise of his powers under para 17 (2) of the Rules of Business, 1973, the prime minister constituted the following Cabinet Committee: Minister for IT and Telecom (Chair), Minister for Law and Justice, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Minister for Commerce, and Minister for Communications.

The Committee may co-opt any expert members or seek an opinion from expert individuals/organisations to reach its findings. Terms of Reference of the Committee are as under:

a) To review the suitability of PTA action of blocking of Wikipedia to restrict access to certain sacrilegious and objectionable content;

b) To explore and recommend alternative technical measures for removalor blocking access to objectionable content posted on Wikipedia andother online information sites, in view of our social cultural andreligious sensitivities, on the touchstone of proportionality; and,

c) To give any other recommendations with the objective of controlling unlawful online content in a balanced manner.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom will provide secretarial support to the committee. The committee shall present its report with recommendations for consideration of the federal cabinet within a week's time.

Earlier, the PTA had degraded Wikipedia services in the country on account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious contents.

Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law and court order(s). An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority.

Given the intentional failure on part of the platform to comply with the directions of the PTA, the services of Wikipedia were degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents. In case of non-compliance by Wikipedia the platform was blocked within Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023