Prospects for the restoration of video-sharing website YouTube are extremely bleak as on the one hand Google, which owns the site, is not going to remove the video anytime soon and, on the other, Pakistan and the US lack a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).
YouTube uses MLAT to filter out objectionable videos. The treaty also allows and facilitates two governments to enforce public and criminal law.
In its absence Pakistan cannot but use diplomatic channels with the US to pursue its case, an information technology ministry official told The Express Tribune.
“I am sure the US government will respect our request,” he said.
“YouTube has always asked us to use MLAT for requests to remove the video as they are not bound by our local laws.”
Though Pakistan has asked the foreign ministry to initiate the treaty, the official said it will take time: “It is a long process. It will take at least a year to materialise.”
He said, “This is the only possible way out at present. YouTube management is not ready to remove the controversial video despite our repeated requests, and we cannot restore the social website until it does so.”
Pakistan blocked YouTube on September 17, 2012 for not removing the blasphemous video that sparked protests throughout the Muslim world.
Blog post Written by Mirza Hassan and You can visit the original article at http://www.thenewstribe.com/