ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that YouTube will remain blocked after Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) installs a filtration system for blocking unwanted websites, which is in process.
Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House on Saturday, Malik said the biometrics system helped confirm the identity of mobile phone users, as unregistered sims had become ‘instruments for terrorists to unleash violence’. He said the mobile phone service was suspended on Friday to avoid any untoward incident on the auspicious occasion of Eid Miladun Nabi.
The blocking was necessary for the security purposes and no terror incident occurred in the country due to this action, he said, adding that the federal government did not suspend the mobile phone service unilaterally rather it was done on the request of provinces, including Punjab.
He asked the cellular service provider to install biometrics system, including fingerprint readers to check on terrorists.
According to experts, the biometrics system can communicate instantaneously with the data servers of the cellular companies to validate the CNIC holders.  There is another module that can use GPRS/EDGE service as a communication channel and can be deployed at retail outlets to verify the customer's identity against his/her CNIC before selling a sim.
The PTA had asked all the mobile phone companies to install a biometrics system for verifying the identity of customers until February 28.