Pakistan lifts ban on YouTube

Islamabad, Feb 26 : Pakistan has lifted the ban on YouTube after the video-sharing website removed content that was offensive to Islam.

"We have issued instructions to all Internet service providers that YouTube should be unblocked as the specific content has been removed by the website," Pakistan Telecommunications Authority spokesman Khurram Mehran told a foreign news agency.

Pakistan's attempts to block access to YouTube was blamed for an almost global blackout of the video website for over an hour on Sunday.

According to reports, Pakistan made the move because YouTube content included Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that have outraged many.

But one report said a trailer for a forthcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which portrays Islam in a negative light, was behind the ban.

Pakistan had ordered Internet service providers to block the site because of content deemed offensive to Islam.

ANI