LAHORE:
The Superior Court of Lahore (LHC) has given “the final opportunity” to the Federal Government to explain the mechanism that it adopted by imposing a prohibition on the social media platform X, previously Twitter.
The LHC observed that the objectable content on a social media platform can be blocked, but the presence of said content does not guarantee a complete prohibition of a platform.
A three -member bank led by the president of the Supreme Court of LHC, Aalia Neelum, resumed Thursday by listening to the requests presented against the suspension of X that took place in February last year.
The president of the PTA Major Gen (retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman appeared before the bank and presented a written response to the requests.
During the hearing, the federal government lawyer, Asad Bajwa, said that the Ministry of Interior lacks a system to trace the individual use of the Internet and, therefore, has a general prohibition.
The president of the Supreme Court Neelum expressed astonishment on how the ministry can block X but does not have a system to track its use. Bajwa informed the bank that the government has formed a committee to investigate the matter. The CJ dismissed it as a delay tactic: “This committee is only to deceive the court.”
When the lawyer told the bank that the Government has written to the administration X for the elimination of objectable content, the CJ asked if there is a formal agreement between the government and X. “Why would X answer if there is no agreement?” She asked.
Bank member, Judge Ali Zia Bajwa, asked the president of the PTA if the official X account of the PTA was still active. When the president of PTI responded affirmatively, the judge sarcasticly pointed out that the PTA had prohibited X but was using the platform itself
During the hearing, the president of the PTA declared that all X users in Pakistan were accessing X through VPN. He denied having used a VPN personally, but admitted that the PTA was using a VPN, a statement that tried to retract later.
The CJ rebuked the head of the PTA to come to the court without preparation and make “a false statement.” “To invoke the president of the PTA was a waste: he lacks knowledge,” he said.
When the president of the PTA said that the authority could restore X if the court indicated it, Judge Bajwa said that the PTA had apparently acted badly and was now looking for justification to revive the social media platform. Judge Bajwa declared that the rules allow content blocking, but not a prohibition throughout the platform.
