THE government finally seems to have acknowledged, albeit indirectly, that social media platform ‘X’ is indeed inaccessible in Pakistan. It has taken the authorities a little over a month to progress from plain denial to sheepish obfuscation.
Questioned on the matter this Tuesday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi simply responded with an airy “we need to make better laws”. As justification, he cited a recent move in the US to clamp down on TikTok. It is deeply concerning that he thinks that US authorities penalising a platform, ostensibly for disseminating ‘too much’ pro-Palestine content, is a suitable example for Pakistan to follow. “Expression is fine, but making false allegations against people is wrong,” Mr Naqvi told reporters as he attempted to rationalise the decision.
One wonders if it was a reference to the fact that X was blocked right after videos of the former Rawalpindi commissioner making startling allegations against the chief election commissioner and the country’s top judge caused a sensation online. However, the senior bureaucrat’s shocking claims regarding the conduct of the Feb 8 general election were never investigated, nor was he prosecuted over his accusations.
Separately, the PTA chairman, who is technically the only person in Pakistan actually authorised to block access to internet services, said on Tuesday he would raise the matter of X’s blockage with the interior ministry. He said that the PTA was in a state of ‘confusion’ on the matter. However, a submission made by the PTA to the Sindh High Court on Wednesday suggested that the ‘confusion’ may never have existed. According to a document presented to the court, the interior ministry had specifically ordered the suspension of X on Feb 17.
What does one make of the PTA’s feigned cluelessness now? It was suspicious that the PTA chief had simply not ordered the restoration of X when nobody was willing to take responsibility for its suspension. Given that several petitions regarding this matter have since landed in the courts, it seems the regulator is now trying to wriggle out of the mess.
It is high time the PTA came clean and explained why it allowed the blockage to continue while initially denying it was even in place, while the interior ministry must answer why it continued to mislead the nation regarding where the orders for suspension had originated from.
Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2024
