The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday served notices to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting over the suspension of social media platform X (Twitter) in the country. Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Aamer Farooq took up the plea against the suspension of X. After being asked, the lawyer of the applicant told the IHC CJ that X services are suspended from February 17 in Pakistan. The lawyer also informed the IHC that SHC is taking up a contempt case in the matter today. Later, the IHC adjourned the hearing of the case for a week after issuing notices to the PTA and the information and broadcasting ministry.

It is to be noted that the Sindh High Court (SHC), last month, directed the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to restore social media platform X services across Pakistan. Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, continues to remain inaccessible to users in Pakistan after internet watchdog groups started to report outages on Saturday. NetBlocks, an organisation that monitors accessibility issues on the internet, on February 17 confirmed that a “national-scale disruption” has hit X in Pakistan in the aftermath of widespread protests in the country triggered by the alleged vote rigging in general elections.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)