Youtube Is Now Accessible In Pakistan Due To A Glitch

As all of you knew that there has been a ban on Youtube in Pakistan as per Supreme Court Orders since 2012. On 6th May 2014, National Assembly of Pakistan passed a resolution to unblock youtube in Pakistan but even after one and a half year, the ban has not lifted yet. Apart from this blockage, Youtube is now accessible in Pakistan due to a temporary glitch. Almost a week ago, Pakistani people were able to browse Youtube in their normal browsers without any help of VPN and Proxies.

There were rumors that PTA had silently removed the ban on Youtube but we have come to know that it was just due to a technical glitch and this access to Youtube in Pakistan is temporary which will be soon blocked.

According to Amir Atta from ProPakistani blog, PTA has not ordered any ISP to remove ban on Youtube so this blockage is still applicable. They are working to fix the glitch now and soon this temporary access to Youtube will also end.

Well if we see from an analyst perspective, banning Youtube in Pakistan has no reasonable logic. The site is still accessible via different VPNs and proxies which make the ban worthless. Moreover this ban cannot block Youtube access from smartphones' apps too. So it is meaningless to resume ban on Youtube. By blocking Youtube in Pakistan, PTA is doing nothing except for persuading people to use VPN and Proxies by which users can access other blocked sites too.

People of Pakistan will welcome the decision if the ban is lifted permanently and it should be done as our ISPs has resources to block a specific video if it hurts people. It is totally useless to continue with present strategy. I hope that this temporary access to Youtube never ends.

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NA Passes Resolution To Lift Ban On Youtube

In the National Assembly Session of 6th May 2014, National Assembly unanimously passes the resolution to lift the ban on youtube in Pakistan. This resolution was also passed in senate a couple of days ago and finally National Assembly also took action to restore youtube in Pakistan.

The popular video sharing has been blocked in Pakistan since September 2012 by PPP Prime Minister due to the provoking material in the site. A film made by an orthodox in which he made fun of Islam. This movie spark a fire of protests in whole world from Muslim side and in this response, Pakistani government banned Youtube in Pakistan.

In this tenure, Pakistani government had several times shown their intentions to filter the offensive material on this site and lift the ban on Youtube to facilitate public but those intentions haven't modified into actions.

Related to protests and offensive material on the site, A US court in February 2014 ordered Google to remove the objectionable content from their site youtube. Due to this order and recent NA resolution, it seems that Youtube will be opened soon in Pakistan.

At present, public is using proxies and VPNs to access Youtube. By these services, access to Youtube is possible but the government should take the step and open youtube so public can easily access it. Youtube is the source of help, earning and publicity for many people in Pakistan and its blockage in Pakistan isn't good for common public. Our IT experts can block specific URLs and can filter offensive videos easily so it should be done like this. Banning the site isn't a solution.

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