Pakistan has restored Twitter in the country after they briefly blocked the site from being accessed after they found the competition to post caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed offensive and insensitive.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed that no restrictions were being imposed on the micro-blogging site but users from several cities reported that they had no access.

At first there was no official word on the development with Interior Minister Malik himself tweeting early in the morning that the government had no plans to impose restrictions on Twitter and Facebook.

“Dear all, I assure (you) that Twitter and (Facebook) will continue in our country and it will not be blocked. (Please) do not believe in rumours,” he said in a tweet.

In another tweet, Malik dismissed a question from a New York Times reporter about reports that the government intended to restrict access to Twitter.

He tweeted “Why (should) I even think of doing so?” Malik asked.

But it has emerged that Pakistan has banned Twitter. "The website has been banned by Ministry of Information Technology and the decision was conveyed to us. There was blasphemous material on Twitter," said Mohammad Younis Khan, spokesman for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

"The ministry officials are still trying to make them agree, and once they remove that stuff, the site will be unblocked," PTA chairman Mohammad Yaseen was quoted as saying.

Late in the evening, Prime Minister Gilani's daughter Fiza Batool Gilani announced on Twitter that the ban had been lifted.

"The Prime Minister has ordered the IT Minister to restore Twitter service in Pakistan," she said in a message.