Why YouTube remains shut in Pakistan

The Pakistani government is firm in its stance on keeping the ban imposed on YouTube until the video-sharing website removed the controversial blasphemous film that outraged the Muslim world last year.

A senior official from the legal department of Information technology ministry, said the website was being urged to at least block the video in Pakistan if they could not altogether remove it from the website.

He added that Google, the owner of YouTube, has been engaged in progressive talks recently and we hope a breakthrough soon, the Express Tribune reports.

YouTube was banned by the Pakistan government in September 2012 after it sparked anger and violent protests across the country and the Arab world by posting the controversial firm 'Innocence of Muslims'.

Following the ban, an inter-ministerial committee comprising representatives from IT ministry, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), religious affairs ministry, intelligence agencies and other stakeholders was formed to look into the issue and suggest a solution.

Last November, the committee suggested in its final report to the prime minister that the ban on the website be kept until it (the website) agreed to remove the video voluntarily or until PTA found a way to block it, which the latter failed to do, the paper said.