ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: In response to surging protests against the controversial film ‘Innocence of Muslims”, the government decided on Monday evening to block operations of the video sharing website YouTube in the country.

“Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has taken cognizance of the blasphemous film available on YouTube and has issued strict instructions to the ministry of information technology to block the services of YouTube with immediate effect,” said an official statement.

It said the decision came after YouTube refused to act on the advice of the government of Pakistan to remove the anti-Islam film from its site.

The prime minister said the objectionable material would not be tolerated and the services of YouTube would remain suspended till the removal of the hate material.

In May 2010, the government banned Facebook for some time when the social network site encouraged its users to post images of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).