Over 2,300 child pornography sites have been blocked in Pakistan: PTA

Even Google wanted to know how Pakistan achieved the declining trend of access to pornographic websites.

In a recent meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Maj. Gen. (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa has said that they have found no evidence regarding pornographic material being created in Pakistan. He said that child pornography is on the decline in Pakistan disowning the report that claimed child pornography has become a business in Pakistan.

The senate committee meeting was attended by key representatives of PTA, FBR, and senators including Senator Rubina Khalid and Senator Ateeq Sheikh. While discussing the issues related to objectionable and unlawful content during the meeting, PTA chairman Azeem Bajwa said that the Prime Minister Imran Khan had also taken a briefing on the subject. He informed the panel that the PTA’s role was restricted to blocking the pornographic material only and his office is engaged with Interpol on the matter. As he stated;

“More than 2,384 child pornography sites have been blocked. New pornographic websites keep surfacing, but the trend is on the decline nonetheless. In fact, Google wanted to know how we achieved the declining trend of access to pornographic websites. We responded that the declining trend was the result of aggressive blocking of some 800,000 porn websites to date, and it is an ongoing exercise.”

Meanwhile, Chairperson standing committee Senator Rubina Khalid has expressed concerns that alongside blocking pornographic content, we also need to form a strategy to restrict negative propaganda and character assassination on social media. Chairman PTA informed the committee that where it has taken steps to resolve 28 complaints they received regarding child pornographic content, it also sends public awareness messages to register complaints regarding unlawful and objectionable content.

PTA has recently sent one such message to the public which explains that “sharing of blasphemy, pornography, terrorism and other unlawful content on social media is illegal.”

PTA has also advised users to report such content by following the simple procedure here.