Pornography in Pakistan

Pornography in Pakistan is illegal and is subject to several legal provisions. The Government has put a 100% ban on internet website containing such material since November 2011. The list of banned pornographic websites is updated on an ongoing basis.

History

In September 2011, a hacker claiming to be from Pakistan defaced the official website of the Supreme Court of Pakistan as a means to raise attention and call on the Chief Justice to permanently ban and block access to pornographic content on the Internet in the country. In October 2011, the website of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was also defaced by the same hacker, with similar demands where the hacker demanded a blanket ban on all websites containing explicit material.

In November 2011, the PTA announced that it was in the process of banning the 1,000 most-frequented pornographic websites in Pakistan. The measure was taken to curb pornography. A report in 2012 said that, with many porn websites banned in the country, a few people were turning to purchasing pornographic DVDs in places such as Karachi's Rainbow Centre, which has long been the largest hub of video piracy and CD distribution in Pakistan.

Child pornography

As of March 2012, Pakistan had no criminal laws addressing child pornography. A proposed law, supported by the Ministry of Human Rights, was facing hurdles because of the contention of the Ministry of Law and Justice that Sharia law determines maturity and that Pakistani children mature faster, in terms of understanding, than children in the West. The deadlock had lasted since 2009, although Pakistan did ratify the Optional Protocol to the UNCRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography in June 2011.

See also

• Prostitution in Pakistan