The Superior Court of Lahore (LHC) on Tuesday convened the Pakistan Attorney General (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan in a case related to the prohibition of the social media platform X (previously Twitter).
Access to X has been interrupted since February 17, 2024, when the former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat, Chattha accused the Chief Commissioner of Elections and a Judge of the Supreme Court of high level of participating in the manipulation of the general elections of February 8.
The organizations of the rights agencies and the organizations of journalists have condemned the content of social networks, while Internet service providers have also lamented losses due to interruptions. The United States had also asked Pakistan to raise restrictions on social media platforms.
Tuesday’s procedures were chaired by a three -members bank headed by the president of the city of LHC, Aalia Neelum. The three -members bank also included Judge Farooq Haider and Judge Ali Zia Bajwa.
The requests against the prohibition have been presented by the journalist Shakir Mahmood and others. The Federal Government, the Ministry of Law, the Ministry of Information and others had been made in requests.
At the previous hearing, the LHC had given the Federal Government a final opportunity to solve the problem of X prohibition and ordered the interested authorities to propose a solution and identify who will implement it.
Today’s audience
“The attorney general must say what is the legal status of the notification of the prohibition of X,” asked Judge Haider during the process.
“The Telecommunications Authority of Pakistan (PTA) has submitted a report in this case,” said the additional attorney general (AAG) Mirza Nasar Ahmed.
“The PTA and the federal government are not on the same page on Twitter [X] Closing, “said lawyer Azhar Siddique, the lawyer of the petitioners.
“There is no concept of a page in court; you and the court are not on the same page either,” Judge Neelum replied.
“There was no written response from the federal government in this regard,” added lawyer Siddique, questioning the reasons for which the PTA had closed X.
“The court had requested a list of government members using Twitter [X]which was not provided, ”said lawyer Siddique.
“The list of government members who are using X [but] It is not possible that we provide that list, ”Agu Ahmed replied.
He continued that the case must be fixed for an audience on April 17. “The attorney general will appear in the Court on that date,” added the AAG.
The Court summoned the AGP to get help on April 17. “The AGP must appear before the court prepared and shed light on all legal matters,” Judge Neelum said.
