LAHORE, Dec 10: Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court observed on Friday that WikiLeaks reports had uncovered the factual face of politicians in Pakistan, and that these reports did not harm or damage the nation or the commoners rather it helped the nation understand the mindset of its rulers.

In a detailed judgment on a petition seeking ban on broadcast and publication of Wikileaks reports in Pakistan, the judge said that access to facts and the truth could not be denied to the citizens of Pakistan. He observed that nothing was greater than the truth and whatever the Wikileaks had published, the Pakistani media had already revealed those things to the masses.

The learned judge declared the reports based on facts, adding that reports were shameful for some personalities in the country.

The petition was filed by advocate Arif Gondal challenging that the Wikileaks cables aimed at defaming Pakistani military and politicians and creating rifts among the Muslim states.

Justice Saeed observed that no government functionaries and politicians had contradicted Wikileaks cables so far, which showed the cables spoke the real tale.

The court observed that the reports based on communications between United States diplomats and Pakistani politicians and military officials provided certain stuff to ponder on the contents.

The judge said when the court could not restrain 178 countries from publishing the reports, why there should be restriction on its publication in Pakistan. The court remarked it was the 21st Century when people could not be kept in dark.

The petitioner had urged the court to issue notices to the Federal Government or the Ministry of Information Technology to hear its point of view. The judge said that the court could not restrict the publications of reports in the international media. The court, referring to the anchorpersons of various TV channels in Pakistan said, they had been discussing these facts in their programmes for a long time.

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