The government has cancelled the one-minute internet blackout that was planned as part of the July Commemoration programme.

“For your information, we held a quick internal meeting and decided that the symbolic one-minute internet blackout will not take place. All other programmes will remain unchanged,” Culture Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki said in a Facebook post at 9:37 am on Thursday.

He added, “From the planning stage itself, we had reservations about one of the July Commemoration programmes. This was the only event we removed and re-added several times. Many of us agreed that the ‘one-minute internet blackout’ might not be a great idea. However, it eventually found its way back into the programme through various discussions. When working on a large-scale programme with a big team, a couple of mistakes can slip through unnoticed.