Popular video sharing site Youtube.com, was accessible for some time in karachi as some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) unblocked it in parts in different areas of the city.
The Pakistani government had blocked the video-sharing website in September, 2012 after the former’s request to block blasphemous video ‘Innocence of Muslims’ for Pakistani viewers was turned down.
However, the website was accessible on the platform of at least three different ISPs, according to internet consumers surveyed, till the filing of this report.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the telecom sector’s regulatory body, confirmed that YouTube is officially banned in the country and there was no change in the government’s stance on it.
The reasons for the sudden restoration of YouTube remain unclear. According to one account, the site was accessible because one of the four submarine cables that connect the country with the internet is under maintenance. As a result, its traffic has been diverted to Egypt where the website is accessible thus some consumers in Karachi – the landing point for that cable – are able to access the website.
However, an official from Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) disagreed with the first account on technical grounds. YouTube is blocked in Pakistan both at the gateway and retail levels thus, it is technically not possible to view it even if traffic is routed to a different country.
The ISPAK official also confirmed reports that some operators have unblocked the website in Karachi. “The website is still blocked in the rest of the country — even in Karachi it is available only partially,” he added.
It must be a ‘slip’ on part of the operator, the official said, referring to the partial access of YouTube. Explaining, he added that the website is blocked at the gateway level by Pakistan Telecommunication Company and Transworld Associates.
“If the website is available to some users, there is something wrong at the operator level,” he said.
This is not the first time the video-sharing web portal has been restored in mysterious circumstances. Since the sanction in 2012, the website has been unblocked a few times by cellular mobile operators and ISPs only to be blocked again when pressed by the regulator.
In November, 2012, shortly after it was banned, the website was restored by some operators and blocked later on. One month later, it was restored again only for three hours a day after former interior minister Rehman Malik tweeted he would restore it in 24 hours.
Also Read: YouTube to remain blocked in Pakistan ‘indefinitely’: officials
