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Responding to claims by siasat.pk – a local online forum – that they were forcibly shut down by the government, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran said “no such action has been taken by the telecommunication regulatory body.”
Following the closure of their website, the administrators of siasat.pk tweeted that the government had taken down the website without any prior notice or warning.
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| Tweet by siasat.pk admin informing its followers regarding the website's closure |
The website's administrators had also posted an image of an email allegedly received from their domain host, informing them that the website's DNS entries had been removed after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had asked them for an immediate shutdown.
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| Tweet posted by admin of siasat.pk |
But no one from the FIA could be reached for a comment, while sources in the interior ministry stated that they were not aware of the shutdown.
Pakistan practices extensive internet censorship, the state's regulatory body blocked YouTube in 2012 following the release of a low-budget film disrespectful to Islam. Websites for Baloch separatist movements in the country's are also banned.
Also read: YouTube to remain blocked 'indefinitely' in Pakistan: officials
In 2010, the government blocked both YouTube and Facebook when objectionable content was increasingly shared on them.
Pakistan had also blocked YouTube before when sacrilegious sketches started appearing in 2008.
Also read: PTA blocks website aimed at country’s gay community
