SHC orders immediate restoration of social media platforms

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the federal government and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to restore services of social media platforms including X, formerly known as Twitter, across Pakistan.

The order was issued SHC bench, headed by SHC Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, on a petition against the “unconstitutional” internet outages across the country in recent days.

Justice Abbasi conducted the hearing on the case where the issue of restriction on internet services on election day was also discussed.

“When will you restore the internet?’ the chief justice asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) lawyer during the hearing of a petition filed by rights activist Advocate Jibran Nasir on the suspension of internet and social media services.

The PTA counsel told the court that the authority took the action on the directions of the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Internal Affairs.

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The PTA counsel said that the internet services were restricted due to the law and order situation across the country.

The court also summoned report from PTA for suspending internet services on election day and issued notice to federal government and adjourned the hearing till March 5..

While the internet services have since been restored, accessibility to X has remained disrupted intermittently for the last few days.

Users reported slow or non-existent accessibility to X on February 17 as parts of the country still facing issues accessing the platform.