The film titled “Innocence of Muslims” has triggered a wave of protests in the Muslim world including Pakistan with some calling for the closure of the US embassy and expulsion of its staff from the country and handing over of Terry Jones, an American Christian pastor, allegedly associated with the film, who has also been accused of burning the pages of the Qur’an in the past.

Directed by the Ministry of Information and Technology, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) blocked all links to the offensive video on YouTube on Thursday. The video-sharing website YouTube blocked the film in India as well. YouTube had also offered to restrict the anti-Islamic film “temporarily” in Libya and Egypt due to the sensitive situation in both the countries.

Police beefed up security at US missions in Pakistan after attacks on American consulates in Egypt, Libya and Yemen this week.

It may be mentioned that four US diplomats including the American ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, were killed on Wednesday after an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi following news of the film.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012