Islamabad, February 07, 2023 (PPI-OT):Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif’s decision to immediately restore the international information website Wikipedia. The notification is issued with the signatures of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr. Tauqeer Shah. The Prime Minister took this decision in light of the recommendations of the three-member ministerial committee. The three-member committee consisted of the Federal Ministers of Law and Justice, Economic and Political Affairs and Information and Broadcasting.
The ministerial committee convened a meeting and after reviewing the matter declared that Wikipedia is a useful information website. It is used by students, researchers and other sections of the society; it is not appropriate to shut down the entire website, steps should be taken to remove objectionable content.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif formed a 5-member committee to remove objectionable content. The Federal Minister of Information Technology will be the head of the committee, the Federal Ministers of Law and Justice, Information and Broadcasting, Commerce and Communication are among the other members of the committee.
An expert may be included in the committee as per requirement. The committee will submit a report to the federal cabinet in a week. The committee will review Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) move to completely block access to Wikipedia.
The committee will recommend measures to prevent access to and ban objectionable content. The committee will suggest procedures for banning content that is religiously sensitive, sacred and offensive to our culture. The Ministry will provide secretarial services to the Information Technology Committee.
For more information, contact:
Prime Minister’s Office
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Email: info@pmo.gov.pk
Website: https://pmo.gov.pk/