Pakistan remains a leading country in the international search for indecent content despite not being at the forefront in terms of viewing, Director General Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr. Muqarram Ali stated during a cybersecurity seminar conducted at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
“After witnessing the steps being taken by PTA, such as massive blocking of indecent sites, a tangible effect can definitely be seen, and Pakistan is not among the leading countries in terms of access to these sites,” he stated.
Pakistan used to have the highest access to such content before enforcement actions were put in place, bringing Pakistan down, he added.
Delivering a speech at the event, Dr. Muqarram Ali stated that PTA is working on online child protection and has blocked 1.3 million indecent sites.
He added, “PTA blocks all immoral and unethical content available online, but does not proactively initiate any move to wipe out sites on its own accord.”
He further stated that sometimes they get conflicting court rulings where one order is to block a particular platform, while another says they shouldn’t block a given platform. “We have to follow the laid-down system in such matters,” he explained.
Speaking in regards to the temporary banning of Wikipedia, PTA Chairman Abdullah Kadir stated, “This action precipitated an international outcry, and following this, an inter-ministerial committee was formed to examine this matter.”
Abdullah Kadir added, “We in PTA do not have the initiative to block websites on our own accord. The PTA blocks websites purely based on government directives. Such directives have been given in previous regimes as well.”
