Wikipedia revived in Pakistan

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has restored the popular online website Wikipedia across Pakistan on the orders of the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The Prime Minister issued a statement regarding the same which was shared by the Information and Broadcasting Minister Maryam Aurangzeb via Twitter.

As per the statement, the decision was made after a meeting was held and it was discussed that Wikipedia is a “useful website” to gain information for everyone.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia which is a go to place for millions to obtain basic information. The website was banned by the PTA last week on February 4, for not “blocking/removing sacrilegious content.” PTA has issued a statement stating that, ““The platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority.”

Post the ban, Wikimedia Foundation the charity that runs Wikipedia issued a statement and said that “does not make decisions around what content is included on Wikipedia or how that content is maintained”. They also stated that “access to knowledge is a human right. A block of Wikipedia in Pakistan denies the fifth most populous nation in the world access to the largest free knowledge repository.”

They further said that they hope that Wikipedia was restored in Pakistan soon so that  “the people of Pakistan can continue to receive and share knowledge with the world.”