Pakistan announced it had blocked access to sharing website YouTube videos, the day after blocking the social networking site Facebook. The Reason behind the blocking is filtering, a competition launched by a user West of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
Representing or portraying Muhammad is strictly forbidden by Islam. In 2006, the publication of caricatures of Muhammad in Danish newspapers, and other countries sparked violent protests in many countries.
A month ago, a Facebook user has launched a competition entitled “”Draw Muhammad Day ” in which he invited to post drawings of the prophet. Thousands of Pakistanis and Muslims from other countries have protested against the scheme on the Facebook site, Tuesday, the Pakistani government had blocked the offending page. But lawyers have requested relief in the Lahore High Court to impose a total ban on Facebook in Pakistan. The court on Wednesday ordered the blocking of access to Facebook until May 31, when the judge hearing the case on its merits. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has complied.
The origin of the blocking order for YouTube is not yet clear, but the site hosts several videos of the drawings submitted on page “Draw Muhammad Day. Google owns YouTube, has not responded so far to the announcement of the deadlock.