The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board has passed resolution on Internet Registry, through which local community of Pakistan will be enabled to register and use internet domains in native languages and scripts.
In December 2016, Ministry of IT requested for the internet registry, the request was made in consultation with stakeholders’ committee members from academia, civil society, internet community, ISPAK, national language authorities, PASHA, PTA and provincial governments. Pakistan has already successfully completed the preparation and evolution stages of ICANN Fast track for IDN and ccTLD.
IT Minister Anusha Rehman has lauded the efforts of team of MoIT, multi-stakeholder technical committee members on internet registry, and NTC team on achieving this major internet governance initiative. She said it would help proliferate the digitalization in Pakistan through local content.
ICANN is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and all internet users can find valid internet addresses. Through this resolution, National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) will be the manager for internet registry.
The local language content in digital form has assumed a central significance. With this in view, Ministry of IT has done intensive work in this regard. IDN top-level domain names like will usher into numerous opportunities and benefits for internet users of Pakistan, by enabling them to establish and use domains in their native languages and scripts.
By launching ccTLD internet accessibility for Urdu language users will be revolutionized as IDNs in native language will facilitate internet navigation much easier. It will help local citizens to access web addresses using Urdu language. IDNs posit an explicit advantage in targeting local markets, non- English speaking internet users, and for local promotions. Alongside, rising trend of E-commerce in Pakistan will enormously benefit from this development by eliminating the language barriers.
