LHC fixes plea challenging 'intentional' internet outage for hearing

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) fixed a petition, challenging the internet outage in Pakistan, for hearing on Friday, ARY News reported.

A citizen, Nadeem, in his petition maintained that the internet has been ‘intentionally’ slowed down in Pakistan without any valid reasons. He argued that the internet outage has been affecting IT-related businesses.

“While the world is advancing with modern technology, Pakistan’s IT sector is being destroyed,” the petitioner said.

He maintained that Pakistani companies and youth were earning billions of rupees through online business, adding that the internet outage is causing significant losses.

The petitioner requested the LHC to declare the ‘intentional’ internet outage as illegal and direct the government not to shut down the internet in the future. The LHC bench comprising Justice Shakil Ahmed will take up the plea on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) responded to the complaints of ‘slow’ internet services across the country.

A meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology was held with Palwasha Khan in the chair.

The members of the committee including Senator Afnanullah and Senator Humayun complained about the departure of several e-commerce platforms from Pakistan due to low internet speed.

Users are unable to upload or download media files on WhatsApp, Afnanullah Khan added.

“You people have ruined the business activities,” Senator Humayun said to the PTA and IT ministry officials attending the meeting.