Pak blocks 900,000 websites over content

Islamabad, Sep 27 (IANS) The Pakistan government has blocked 900,000 websites for carrying blasphemous and pornographic content and/or sentiments against the state, judiciary or the armed forces.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecom was informed of the move the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday, Dawn news reported.

However, the officials informed the meeting that any criminal activity pertaining to IT or mobile telephony was dealt with by the Federal Investigation Agency and information regarding cybercrime was not available with the PTA.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Minister for IT and Telecom Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said: "Pakistan is already lagging behind the world in many areas, including the prevalence of IT. If we do not convert our official working to e-governance now, things will go bad in times to come."

The minister added that "heavy use" of IT in government offices would help control corruption and mismanagement there.