Pakistan Lifts Ban On YouTube, Pages Remain Blocked

Pakistani protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama as they protest against Facebook in Lahore on May 26.

A senior Pakistani official says access to the YouTube video-sharing website has been restored but that the links to "sacrilegious or profane material" will remain inaccessible in Pakistan.

Authorities made headlines last week when they restricted access to YouTube and the social-networking site Facebook over an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" event.

"We have lifted the ban on only that part which is not displaying any sacrilegious or profane material," Naguibullah Malik, Secretary of Information Technology and Telecom, told Reuters.

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, Wahaj us Siraj, was quoted by AFP as saying that a total of 1,200 links remained blocked, including 550 from YouTube.

Many Muslims consider any representation of the Prophet Muhammad to be blasphemous.

A decision on Facebook is expected to emerge from a court hearing at the end of the month.

compiled from agency reports