Islamabad 7 September : YouTube has been restored following a brief outage across Pakistan the interruption occurred in the course of PTI chairman and former PM Imran Khan’s speech at an event in Peshawar.Users reported that they were unable to access YouTube after the site was shut down across the country, The Express Tribune reported.
According to tweets posted by users, YouTube was suddenly stopped in all cities, both small and major of the country.
YouTube has not confirmed or denied any service shut down or interruption.
NetBlocks an organization that monitors outages on the internet confirmed the reported outage of YouTube service.It also pointed out that the outage occurred despite the fact that the Islamabad High Court had lifted the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (Pemra) ban on Khan’s live speech broadcasts, The Express Tribune reported.
“NetBlocks strongly discourages the use of disruptions to networks and restrictions on social media to restrict political speech due to their significant impact on fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,” the organisation said in an announcement.
International Human Rights Foundation also expressed its displeasure of the situation, stating: “The blocking of Youtube and the shut-down of television and newspapers as well as the forced firing and the exile of journalists, the arbitrarily arrest of peaceful political opponents, and the false accusation of innocent citizens on charges of terrorism deserve just one word: dictatorship.”
PTI members expressed displeasure at the PMLN-led coalition government for the move, stating that the ban won’t be effective in stopping the party or its leader, The Express Tribune reported.
The former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry claimed Pakistan was recently “officially transformed into an unofficial banana republic”.
Former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari in an angry tweet lashed out at the administration over the progress.
“So YouTube is blocked yet again by this fascist government and its handlers.Really sick mentality,” she wrote.
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