After Facebook, Pak blocks YouTube

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN: A day after blocking Facebook over a caricature of Prophet Mohammed, Pakistani authorities on Thursday blocked video sharing website YouTube for hosting "objectionable content".

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said in a statement that YouTube had been blocked due to "objectionable content," according to a PTI report.

After PTA's direction to Internet service providers to block YouTube, most Internet users were unable to access the site by late afternoon.

A Lahore High Court, ordering to block Facebook till May 31, had directed the Foreign Ministry to raise the issue of the blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Mohammed at international forums.

This is the second ban on YouTube in Pakistan in recent times. In 2008, local Internet service providers in Pakistan were ordered to block access to YouTube because of the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that outraged many Muslims. However, it was lifted within a week.

The cartoons, published in Danish newspapers in 2005, had angered Muslims because of their depiction of the Prophet.

However, Pakistan had lifted the ban after the website removed the cartoons in question.