Pakistan Blocked Facebook

Pakistan has blocked Facebook indefinitely on Wednesday.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority(PTA) blocked Facebook indefinitely on Wednesday because of an online competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad.

According to Guardian, The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, which controls internet access, directed service providers to block the website "till further notice" in compliance with a high court order obtained by a group of lawyers yesterday.

A spokesman for the PTA, the country's telecommunication watchdog, said the government on Tuesday ordered Internet providers to block only the Facebook page showing these caricatures. But on Wednesday the court ordered the entire Facebook site blocked.

The court action was triggered by a Facebook page entitled Everybody Draw Mohammad Day — May 20 which contains over 3,000 images, many of them certain to offend Muslims, who consider all depictions of the prophet to be blasphemous.

By late afternoon, Facebook was unavailable to Pakistan's computer users, although Blackberries and other mobile devices appeared able to access the site.

image: AP