Pakistani authorities have dropped plans to forbid the sending of text messages featuring the words “Jesus” and “Christ,” the Vatican Insider website said.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ordered operators to block texts featuring any of a list of 1,500 words in a document issued earlier this month,.
The list of the banned words includes sexually explicit words as well “Jesus” and “Christ”.
The PTA’s letter said the order was in line with a 1996 law preventing people from sending “false, fabricated, indecent or obscene” information via mobile phones.
The Vatican Insider said State Minister for Harmony Akram Gill, a Catholic, had raised the matter in the cabinet of ministers.
The remaining words will still be blocked from text messages.
