- March 21, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
The Ministry of Interior issued orders on February 17 that resulted in the nationwide ban on social media platform X, as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) notified the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday. The Ministry of Interior’s instructions were based on intelligence agency reports. With sporadic service restorations, the X website has been mostly unavailable since February 17. This is mostly because former commissioner Rawalpindi Liaquat Ali Chatta made a statement in front of the media asserting that the “elections were rigged.”
PTA Chairman Hafeezur Rehman said on Tuesday that he would bring up the inconvenience caused by X with the interior ministry. Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi and Justice Abdul Mubeen Lakho, who make up the two-member SHC bench, combined four complaints against internet disruption that were brought by diverse parties, including journalist Zarrar Khurho and attorney Jibran Nasir. During the hearing, the PTA brought a copy of a February 17 letter from the Ministry of Interior to the telecommunications authority, directing it to “immediately till further orders” ban social networking platform X. The letter did not specify why the block was needed.
The PTA stated in its response, which was filed with the court today, that the directives issued by the interior ministry were based on information provided by intelligence services. The court began the hearing by expressing its dissatisfaction with the interior ministry’s failure to submit a written reply. Khaleeq Ahmed, the Deputy Attorney General (DAG), requested an extension of time for the interior ministry to deliver the response. Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi expressed his disapproval of DAG Ahmed and requested that he provide a “serious response.”
Services were only interrupted on May 9 due to instructions from all provincial governments, according to the formal answer later filed by DAG on behalf of the interior ministry. According to the statement, “the Ministry of Interior issues orders for suspension of 3G/4G services only in cases where the security of the state and citizens is at stake.” No other topics were addressed in the response. The bench continued the hearing till April 17 after appending the ministry’s response to the case file.