File photo
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the Interior Ministry to withdraw a letter seeking the suspension of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, within one week, as the platform said it was working with the Pakistani government to address its concerns.
“What are you [interior ministry] achieving via shutting down trivial things,” SHC Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi remarked while hearing multiple petitions seeking the restoration of the platform. “The world must laugh at us,” he added.
The SHC CJ also highlighted that the “law does not empower the interior ministry to act on reports forwarded by intelligence agencies” and noted that there was no justification to suspend X’s services. He said the court would issue its orders if the Interior Ministry did not withdraw the directives issued on Feb. 17 before adjourning the hearing until May 9. In its order, the court directed the Interior Ministry to submit its reasons for blocking X at the next hearing.
A day after the hearing, on Thursday, X’s Global Government Affairs team posted that it was working with Pakistan to address its concerns. “We continue to work with the Pakistani Government to understand their concerns,” read a brief statement posted on X.
X has been blocked in Pakistan since Feb. 17 over “national security threats,” hampering millions of Pakistanis who use the service. While still accessible with the use of a VPN, the service appears to be sporadically restored, before being blocked once more.
Last moth, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) told the SHC that it blocked the social media platform on directions of the Interior Ministry and intelligence agencies.