Twitter unblocked in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Social networking website Twitter has been unblocked in Pakistan, which was barred on Saturday as it failed to respond and take action regarding the publishing of blasphemous content, according to the Ministry of Information Technology.

Earlier, the IT ministry claimed that calls made to Twitter authorities over the matter remained unanswered. The micro-blogging website is used quite often for the promotion of a blasphemous competition run on Facebook.

"The website has been banned by Ministry of Information Technology and the decision was conveyed to us. There was blasphemous material on Twitter," said Mohammad Younis Khan, spokesman for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

In 2010 following a Lahore High Court ruling, facebook was also blocked in Pakistan for the same reason. Twitter has grown in popularity in the last few years and it is estimated that an approximate 6 million people use it in Pakistan.