Islamabad: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has banned  popular website Wikipedia in the country for not “blocking/removing sacrilegious content” within the 48-hour deadline given to the website, media reports said on Saturday.

Wikipedia is a popular free, crowdsourced, editable online encyclopedia which is accessed by people from across the globe.

The PTA had on Wednesday degraded Wikipedia services countrywide for not complying with the directives for the removal of controversial content from the website, reports Dawn News.

The regulator said the website had neither responded to its requests, nor taken down the content in question.

Speaking to Dawn News, PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid said the ban had primarily been imposed for non-compliance with the orders.

“The decision can be reviewed once Wikipedia removes sacrilegious content that has been identified by the regulatory authority,” the spokesperson added.