The well-known and cost-free online encyclopedia Wikipedia has requested Pakistan to allow access to its service once again, claiming that it has no control over what is placed on its site. This follows PTA’s countrywide ban on Wikipedia for failing to remove “sacrilegious material.”
The Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization that manages Wikipedia, confirmed the suspension in a tweet and said that other Wikimedia projects in the nation had also been shut down.
The Wikimedia Foundation urged Pakistan to “immediately restore access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in the country.”
According to the report, the English Wikipedia in Pakistan obtains more than 50 million monthly visitors, followed by the Russian and Urdu Wikipedia.
In Pakistan, there is a big and active community of editors who provide historical and educational information.
The greatest free information collection is inaccessible to Pakistan due to a restriction on Wikipedia. Pakistan is the world’s fifth most populated country. It said that if it persisted, everyone would lose access to Pakistan’s knowledge, history, and culture.
The organization said that it hoped the Pakistani government would quickly reopen access to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia initiatives “so that the people of Pakistan can continue to receive and exchange information with the world.”
This week, the PTA reduced the quality of Wikipedia in the nation “on account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious information,” without identifying the offending material.
According to the authority, Wikipedia was contacted to request that the content be blocked by submitting a notification in accordance with existing legislation and a court order (s).
The platform was given a chance to be heard, it said, but neither removed the content nor came before the Authority.
According to PTA, the reinstatement of Wikipedia services would only be considered when the content has been removed.
