KARACHI: Two lawyers representing the telecom regulator in the Sindh High Court on Tuesday took contradictory stances on whether or not social media platform X has been restored.
A two-judge SHC bench, comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Omar Sial, was hearing a set of petitions filed against the suspension of mobile and internet services and the ban on X since February.
As the hearing started, one of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) lawyers, Ahsan Imam Rizvi, informed the bench that the notification to ban X has been “withdrawn”.
However, the petitioners’ counsel, Abdul Moiz Jaferii, said access to the platform was still not possible.
IT minister tells parliament web management system is used for ‘blocking’
The bench asked the lawyer if the notification has been withdrawn, does it mean access to X has been resorted?
In reply, Saad Siddiqui, who was representing PTA in a related petition, said he had no knowledge about the notification’s withdrawal.
The judges remarked that PTA had engaged separate lawyers for each petition, and surprisingly, one of them was informed about the notification’s withdrawal while the other was clueless.
Later, the bench gave time to the PTA and other respondents to clarify their positions on the issue and adjourned the hearing for two weeks. The written order is likely to be issued today (Friday).
After the hearing, the defendants’ lawyer, Mr Jaferii, told reporters that X was still inaccessible and the stance of PTA’s lawyer would be verified at the next hearing.
The court is jointly hearing separate petitions filed by journalists and academics to restore X and by lawyer Jibran Nasir for suspending mobile internet and broadband services on the day of general elections. Last year, [two identical petitions][3] were also filed by the Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan and two other petitioners.
X blocked on ministry’s order
On Thursday, the information technology minister told the Senate that X had been blocked on the directives of the interior ministry.
While answering the senators’ questions, Shaza Fatima Khawaja said PTA’s web management system has been used to block X on the ministry’s orders.
She added that the web management system was installed under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 and is regularly updated. “It is being used to block grey traffic and objectionable content,” the minister said while hinting at the use of VPN to access blocked content.
Earlier, the government told the SHC and Islamabad High Court that X has been blocked till further orders on the reports of intelligence agencies.
It justified the ban on grounds that the X management refused to act on “lawful directives of the government of Pakistan” to block objectionable content.
“The decision to impose a ban on Twitter/X in Pakistan was made in the interest of upholding national security, maintaining public order, and preserving the integrity of our nation,” the ministry said in its report submitted to IHC.
Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024
