Pakistan blocks Twitter on material litigation

Islamabad. President of the Telecommunications Authority of Pakistan says the government has blocked the social networking site Twitter because of the material considered offensive to Islam.

Mohammad Yaseen said the site was blocked on Sunday because Twitter has refused to remove the material linked to a contest on Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Many Muslims consider representations of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

Yaseen said Facebook has agreed to address the concerns of Pakistan, but officials have not been able to get Twitter to do the same.

Representatives from Facebook and Twitter could not be immediately reached for comment.

Pakistan blocked Facebook for about two weeks in 2010 because of a similar competition.

Associated Press