Pakistan government instructed ISP’s to block the social networking website “Facebook” in Pakistan amid anger over the Facebook group that encourages users to post images of Prophet Mohammad.

The website generated criticism over the group in Pakistan and the whole Islamic community as drawing pictures of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam. Lawyers in Pakistan won a case in the Lahore High Court which ordered ISP’s to block the social networking site till May 31. Facebook could be accessed by some ISP’s and not by others all throughout Wednesday because ISP’s were still implementing the rules to block the website.

The information section on the page which was still accessible on Wednesday said “We are not trying to slander the average Muslim,” said the information section of the Facebook page, which was still accessible Wednesday morning. “We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammad depictions that we’re not afraid of them. That they can’t take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us into silence.”

Facebook said it is investigating.

“While the content does not violate our terms, we do understand it may not be legal in some countries,” the company said in a statement. “In cases like this, the approach is sometimes to restrict certain content from being shown in specific countries.”

Update:

Till about ten minutes ago, Google.com.pk was also showing the “This Site is Restricted” but it is back online. All Blackberry services have been suspended to follow the Pakistan Telecommunication Authorities directive to block Facebook completely in Pakistan. As of last night, Facebook could be accessed via external apps and Edge and GPRS connections.

All network providers have sent their subscribers messages about suspension of Blackberry services while they blocked Facebook. As of right now, all Blackberry services are active again.

Update – 11:42 AM – 20th May, 2010

YouTube has been blocked to curtail the aftermath of the banning of Facebook in Pakistan. In trying to ban the few top most popular websites on the Internet, the Pakistani government is going to systematically restrict access to a large number of websites which will be blocked as collateral damage.