ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has summoned a relevant officer of the Interior Ministry regarding the closure of the social media platform, X, in the country.
A single bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, on Tuesday, heard the petition challenging the closure of the social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), in the country. The X remained largely restricted in Pakistan since February 17. Lawyers Sardar Masroof and Amna Ali appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner – Ehtisham Abbasi.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)’s counsel besides submitting the written reply, also filed a letter in a sealed envelope saying, this is only for the court.
The chief justice after reading the letter remarked that there was nothing in it and returned to him. The CJ asked the PTA’s lawyer to provide the same to the petitioner’s counsel, who said, it is already available on social media.
Justice Farooq remarked that there should be genuine reasons for the closure of X and if it is a matter of state security or national security, the situation would have been different. He added that it is a platform for expressing opinion and there is nothing in this letter while this petition represents many who use Twitter.
In response, the PTA’s legal counsel attributed the platform’s closure to the directives outlined in the letter, citing legal obligations for compliance. He further said that in this regard, the answer is to be given by the Ministry of Interior.
The IHC CJ maintained that the platform can only be banned under specific laws and emphasised that it plays a role in the exchange of ideas and freedom of speech and is used by many in Pakistan.
The bench remarked that there should be a genuine reason for the ban. He continued that things have changed over the past two decades and many opinions are present on social media apps, including some against the judiciary. He added that social media platforms can only be banned under the rule of law.
Later, the IHC bench summoned the competent officer of the Ministry of Interior and deferred the hearing till April 3.
In this matter, Abbasi, a resident of Islamabad moved the court and cited the Information Ministry and the PTA as respondents. He requested the court to issue directives to the respondents to immediately lift the ban on X (Twitter) access in the interest of justice.
He also requested that the act of the respondents against journalists particularly in the recent past is highly violative of Article 19 of the Constitution (freedom of speech).
Referring to the very important fundamental right as provided under Article 14 of the Constitution (inviolability of dignity of man, etc), the plea said that the liberty of a person was a pivotal right and falls squarely within the ambit of the right to life and dignity of a person.
The petition claimed that the impugned inaction of the respondents is deliberate, arbitrary, mala fide, without lawful authority, and derogatory to the provisions of the Constitution and the fundamental rights guaranteed therein.
It said that the impugned inaction is patently void, ab initio, a contrived and untenable, misplaced, misdirected, unfounded, erroneous, contrary to the law and facts on the record, and was liable to be set aside by the IHC.
It maintained that the disruption of X suffers from serious legal infirmities as the same is not sustainable in view of the settled law and that a number of other constitutional and statutory rights have been infringed and circumvented.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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