Social media restored in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The social media sites have been restored in Pakistan which were earlier shut on the orders of the Interior Ministry for four hours.

The federal government had on Friday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to suspend social media platforms in the country from 11am-3pm.

The ministry, in a statement, said that the PTA has been ordered to blocked the services of Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, and Telegram and Twitter in the country.

“….complete access to social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Telegram) may be blocked from 1100hrs to 1500hrs on 16th April 2021 across the country,” read the notification issued by the ministry to chairman PTA.

"In order to maintain public order and safety, access to certain social media applications has been restricted temporarily," the PTA had said.

TV, radio coverage of proscribed organisation TLP banned

On Thursday, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned coverage by all television and radio licensees of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

PEMRA's notification followed one by the Ministry of Interior which declared the TLP a banned organisation for engaging in acts of terrorism, and acting in a manner prejudicial to the peace and security of the country over the course of its recent three-day long nationwide protests.

The notice by PEMRA said that Regulation 18(h) of PEMRA (Television Broadcast Station Operation) Regulation, 2012 and Clause 16 of Electronic Media Code of Conduct, 2015 requires that programmes conform to the laws of the country.

"Moreover, Clause 3 (3) of Electronic Media Code of Conduct, 2015 prohibits media coverage to proscribed organisations," it stated.