A Pakistani court today ordered the federal Information Technology Minister to appear before it on August 7 and present the government's "clear response" to a petition challenging the ban on YouTube.
A bench of the Lahore High Court summoned the minister and the federal IT Secretary after they both failed to appear during today's hearing.
An Additional Secretary of the IT Ministry told the court that the minister could not appear as she was busy preparing the IT policy while the Secretary had an eye infection. He said the government was not allowing access to YouTube because of security concerns.
Earlier, representatives of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the IT Ministry told the High Court that the government had been unable to evolve a mechanism to block objectionable websites and blasphemous materials.
Since the IT Ministry had failed to block clips of the anti-Islam film "Innocence Of Muslims", the government did not allow the lifting of the ban on YouTube, PTA said.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who heard the case, remarked: "Access to internet cannot be denied and it is up to the people to make decisions at such points."
The petitioner's counsel spoke of the need for evolving a complaint strategy for resolving public grievances, ensuring right of access to information and blocking pornographic sites.
An NGO, Bytes For All, had filed the petition for removing the ban slapped by the previous government on YouTube after the administration of Google refused to remove blasphemous materials from the video-sharing website.
