Pakistan trying to filter YouTube

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Pakistani lawmakers are working to find a way to filter anti-Islam content on YouTube so Pakistani users will be able to access the site, officials said.

YouTube has been blocked in Pakistan since an anti-Islam video called "Innocence of Muslims" sparked riots throughout the Muslim world, The Washington Post reported.

Many users have complained the ban makes it difficult for them to view music videos or religious content.

"I am sure that like me, many students, researchers, and knowledge seekers are missing a great utility that has been blocked because of the malicious designs of one criminal mind and failure of our telecommunication authorities in taking the pain to selectively block the websites involved in posting blasphemous material," said an unnamed reader of Dawn News who said he was unable to watch the hajj religious pilgrimage on the Internet.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a regular social media user, tweeted last week the government will set up a committee to find a way to filter anti-Islam content on YouTube.

"I will do my best to open U tube," Malik tweeted last Tuesday. "You all know that this matter does not concern my ministry yet everybody demands me to open it."