US public radio Voice of America (VOA) on Thursday called for Pakistan to lift a block on two of its websites, in Urdu and Pashto, as concerns grow over freedom of speech in the country.
"In the interest of press freedom, VOA calls upon those responsible for blocking our content to immediately remove these constraints," said Amanda Bennett, the director of VOA, in a statement to AFP.
"Any attempt to block our websites deprives Urdu and Pashto speakers in the region access to a trusted news source," she continued, adding that the organisation was "troubled" by the block.
The VOA Urdu website has been partially or fully blocked since early December and the site for VOA Deewa, the Pashto language service, since late October, she said.
The websites have been irregularly accessible in Islamabad in recent days. Pakistani information minister Fawad Chaudhry told VOA the block was in place due to "false and prejudiced reporting".
"The stories they were doing were only projecting a particular narrative without any impartial view," he said, according to a story published by VOA on its English language site.
"There are many things happening in our country and most are positive."
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