Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Director Dr Mukarram Ali said that 1.3 million immoral websites have been blocked while addressing a seminar on cyber security at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (CDPI) on Monday.

He said that PTA is also actively working on online protection for children. PTA only blocks immoral and inappropriate content and does not take any proactive steps to close any website on its own.

Dr Mukarram Ali also drew attention to the conflicting orders of the courts and said that sometimes one court orders to block a platform, while another court prohibits it. In such cases, PTA acts according to legal and administrative regulations.

Mentioning the temporary blocking of Wikipedia, he said that this move received a global response, after which an inter-ministerial committee was formed to review the issue.

Dr Mukarram Ali clarified that PTA blocks websites only on government instructions, and these steps were also taken during previous governments.

Talking about cyber security, Dr Mukarram Ali said that Pakistan has become one of the top countries in the world in terms of cyber security preparedness.