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PKNIC Domain Registration Restrictions

Applications for these domains must conform to the PKNIC registration policy agreement in addition to the requirements and restrictions given below. In the case of any difference between the PKNIC registration policy and the specific domain terms and conditions described below, these terms and conditions will apply.

  1. The maximum domain name length is 63 characters (excluding the .pk portion), and the maximum length is 67 characters including .pk suffix  
  2. For second level .PK domains, the minimum length for the domain name, exclusive of the .pk portion is four characters (e.g. 1234.pk) .
  3. For third level .COM.PK, etc domains, the minimum domain name of one character are allowed (e.g. a.com.pk). The label "pk" and all the second level suffix names are reserved for these domain types (e.g. can not register pk.com.pk, net.com.pk, com.com.pk, gov.com.pk, etc).
  4. A domain name can not begin with a dash "-", and can not have two consecutive dashes "--"in it. These are reserved for IDN encodings
  5. Generic dictionary words are allowed (unless they violate other terms set forth here or in the general PKNIC Registration Policy).
  6. The domain name is not present in the list of reserved or blocked names.  Examples of reserved namespace are INFO.PK, NAME.PK, etc.
  7. The new registration and/or renewal of classes of domain names identified as Disallowed classes of PK Domain Names (listed below) shall not be allowed.

Not Allowed PKNIC Domains

These disallowed classes of domain names are deemed to be technically or practically exploitable to mislead public about their true web address (masquerading), and potentially conduct illegal phishing and electronic fraud with unsuspecting and innocent persons, and thus pose a substantial cybercrime and cyber security threat. An exception review may be granted for a specific domain name that in PKNIC’s sole discretion is determined to be reasonably safe. If the exception applies to your chosen domain name, please send the registration request to staff@pknic.net.pk

Kinds of not allowed Domain Names

  1. A four character name before .pk can not start with one of the PKNIC second level sub-domains (e.g. com, net, org, gov, gop, etc.). For example the following domain names are not acceptable:  (coms.pk, comm.pk, nets.pk, net2.pk, govs.pk, etc).
  2. The complete list of the .PK current and reserved sub-domains includes but is not limited to .COM.PK, .NET.PK, .ORG.PK, .FAM.PK, .BIZ.PK, .WEB.PK, .EDU.PK, .GOV.PK, .GOB.PK, .GOG.PK, .GKP.PK, .GOP.PK, .GOS.PK, .GOK.PK, .INFO.PK
  3. Any new domain registration, since August 2013, with a four character name before .pk can not contain one of the PKNIC second level sub-domains (e.g. com, net, org, gov, gop, etc.).
  4. Any new second level domain registration, since May 2014, can not end with one of the PKNIC second level sub-domains (e.g. com, net, org, web, edu, gov, gop, etc.). Exceptions can be made for longer names who's meaning do not cause collision or confusion with existing second level name space, or with government or educational functions.
  5. Domain label "www" in third level domains (.COM.PK, .NET.PK, etc) are not allowed due to cyber security threat and risks and stability of .PK DNS system (especially due to special treatment of such label by modern web browsers and clients). New registrations for this criteria will not be made, and any existing such domains are not renewable by the system.