The Pakistan Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) is to withdraw plans to install a “national level URL Filtering and Blocking System”, according to the Express Tribune.

In Febuary, the Pakistan authorities issued a request for proposals from research institutions and technology companies for “the development, deployment and operation of a national level URL Filtering and Blocking System” to automatically filter URLs contained in a centralised database.

However, the request has now been withdrawn, said a member of Pakistan’s legislature.

Secretary IT Farooq Ahmed Awan said to me that the URL project has been withdrawn due to the concern shown by various stakeholders. — Bushra Gohar, member of Pakistan’s National Assembly.

The MoIT has yet to confirm the reports.