ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) summoned the interior secretary on April 17 to give detailed reasons for the shutdown of social media platform X — which has been inaccessible since February.
The directives came as the court heard a petition challenging the “ban” on X.Access to X has been disrupted in Pakistan since February 17, when former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Chattha accused the chief election commissioner and chief justice of Pakistan of being involved in rigging the February 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. The United States had also called on Pakistan last month to lift restrictions on social media platforms.
On March 20, the interior ministry informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that the social media platform was blocked in February pending further orders on the reports of intelligence agencies.
The interior ministry’s admission came days after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar acknowledged that X was “already banned” when the new government took over the reins from the caretaker set-up, saying there was no official notification for the clampdown.
At the previous hearing, the IHC had sought a detailed report from the interior ministry regarding the outage of the social media platform.During today’s hearing, the Interior Ministry joint secretary appeared before the court and presented a report on the outage of the social platform. However, IHC CJ Aamer Farooq, who presided over the hearing, expressed his dissatisfaction at the report.
During the hearing, the secretary stated that X was disrupted on the basis of reports by intelligence agencies. At this, the IHC CJ asked the official to produce documentation, adding that he had been summoned to provide details.
“What manner is this, what is this attitude?” CJ Farooq asked. “Assist the court, what is this? You have not brought any files or anything […] everything was done deliberately, everything has been shut. Shall I summon the secretary?” he asked.
He then told the secretary to provide documents and concrete evidence, rather than “make verbal statements in court”.
