- Sindh High Court orders restoration of social media access, including X, after a 4-day outage.
- The SHC directive follows a petition against nationwide internet disruptions.
- Chief Justice questions PTA lawyer about internet restoration timing.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the federal government and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to restore access to social media platforms in Pakistan, including X, previously known as Twitter. X has been unreachable in the country for the last four days.
The SHC bench, headed by Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, issued the directive in response to a petition challenging the recent “unconstitutional” internet disruptions nationwide.
During the hearing presided over by Justice Abbasi, discussions covered various relevant topics, including the imposition of internet service restrictions on election day.
During the court session for a petition brought by rights advocate Advocate Jibran Nasir concerning the suspension of internet and social media services, the chief justice directly questioned the lawyer from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). “When will you restore the internet?”
In reply, the PTA lawyer informed the court that the authority had acted upon directives from the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The PTA lawyer defended the limitation of internet services, citing concerns about the current law and order situation across the country.
Furthermore, the court has asked the PTA to provide a report on the suspension of internet services on election day. Notices have also been sent to the federal government, and the hearing has been postponed until March 5th.
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As previously stated, access to X has been interrupted in Pakistan for several days following Commissioner Rawalpindi’s admission of involvement in election fraud. He confessed to personally overseeing the tampering of over 70,000 votes, which reversed election outcomes overnight. He also mentioned surrendering to the police.
