KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday summoned the interior secretary to appear in court on April 17 if the Interior Ministry fails to respond to the ongoing suspension of social networking platform X, previously Twitter, and internet outages in the country.
The instruction came during a hearing on petitions challenging the inaccessibility of X — a crucial source of information — non Pakistan for more than two months, as the Interior Ministry’s reluctance to provide a response irritated the court.
The SHC on the last hearing had asked responses from the government and other authorities today (March 20), as Pakistanis continue to endure periodic disruptions and hindrances in accessing the social media site notwithstanding the SHC’s stay order.
This inaccessibility began before to the February 8 general election, and the country also experienced complete internet outage during the polls.
The court showed its disapproval today as the counsel for the government requested an extension for the interior secretary’s reply.
“It is simply writing four lines denying having any information [about the X suspension]. We know the lies [made up by] all of them [authorities], especially the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA),” SHC Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi remarked in a hard-hitting statement.
During the court, rights campaigner Jibran Nasir stated that the X has been experiencing difficulties since the legal orders to restore the site.
