SHC reprimands PTA lawyer over X ban lifting statement

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) reprimanded Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) lawyer during a hearing of a plea against the ban on social media platform X.

At the outset of the hearing, Chief Justice of Sindh High Court posed a critical question to the PTA’s lawyer: “Who instructed you to make a statement about lifting the ban on Twitter?”

The PTA lawyer responded by stating that an affidavit had been submitted in court. However, the Chief Justice further inquired, “Who gave the directive to withdraw the notification regarding X’s ban?”

The lawyer for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) explained that the instructions were issued due to a misunderstanding. The SHC, visibly surprised, questioned, “What was the misunderstanding? After hearing Moiz Jafri’s arguments, the notification was suddenly withdrawn.”

The court reprimanded the PTA counsel, stating, “You are a lawyer; you cannot make such mistakes.” The PTA’s lawyer defended his actions by saying, “As soon as the mistake was realized, a request was immediately filed.”

Earlier, PTA requested the SHC to set aside or modify its September 12 order, which was issued during a hearing on a petition filed against the suspension of X in Pakistan.

According to the court’s written order, one of PTA’s counsels repeatedly stated during a recent hearing that the Federal Ministry of Interior had withdrawn its February 17 notification regarding the blocking of X in Pakistan.