KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to fully restore the services of social media platform X (formerly Twitter) across the country.
SHC Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, while hearing a plea, instructed the PTA that the services of X should remain restored “without any interruption or disruption”.
The petition, filed by senior journalists through Advocate Abdul Moiz Jaferii, submitting that restricting or blocking access to X was “unlawful, arbitrary and violation of Article 19 and 19-A of the Constitution”.
The plea named the PTA, interior ministry and information ministry as respondents in the case.
X remains disrupted in many areas of Pakistan for the sixth consecutive day. According to monitoring website Downdetector, the disruptions were reported in Rawalpindi, Karachi, Gujranwala and Lahore among other cities.
X has been inaccessible since Saturday when former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Chattha held a press conference and accused the chief election commissioner and chief justice of being involved in rigging the Feb 8 general elections.
Rights bodies and journalists’ organisations have condemned the muzzling of social media, while internet service providers have also lamented losses due to disruptions.
A day earlier, the United States called on Pakistan to lift social media restrictions. “We are concerned by any report of restrictions on freedom of association and expression in Pakistan, including the partial or complete government-imposed shutdowns on social media platforms,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
During the hearing today, Advocate Jafferi recalled that the interior ministry as saying it had not issued any directives regarding the suspension of X.
He said that as per the IT ministry, the information technology sector was booming in Pakistan. “The prime minister, interior minister and IT minister are using VPN to tell the public that X has not been suspended,” the lawyer said.
Here, Justice Abbasi inquired, “Who suspends this? Who issued the orders to keep [the social media platform] shut?”
Jafferi responded that the authority to suspend or slow down the services of X only lies with the PTA. “The authority should be asked who issued orders to suspend the platform,” he demanded.
The lawyer further highlighted that journalists and others who used X for financial purposes were suffering due to the disruptions, adding that suspension also hindered the provision of advertisements to Palestine and information regarding the situation in Gaza.
“For how many days has X been suspended for?” the judge asked. He also recalled that the court had earlier issued directives for uninterrupted access to the internet and social media platforms.
Subsequently, the judge directed the PTA to fully restore X and sought detailed responses from the respondents at the next hearing.
