PAKISTAN'S Communications
Authority Has Admitted In Court Papers That It Was Ordered By The Interior
Ministry To Shut Down Social Media Platform X -- Now In Its Fifth Week Of
Outages. The
Newly-Elected Government Has Been Evasive Over The Censorship Of The
Micro-Blogging Site Formerly Known As Twitter, Owned By American Billionaire Elon
Musk.
Activists Who Are
Challenging The Shutdown In The Sindh High Court Have Said It Was Designed To
Quash Dissent After February 8 Polls Fraught By Rigging Claims.
Court Documents Filed By
Lawyers Of Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Implicated Espionage
Agencies In The Government's Order Of February 17.
"On The Reports Of
The Intelligence Agencies, The Ministry Of Interior... Asked For Blocking Of X (Twitter)
Immediately Till Further Orders," Said The Documents Shared By Prosecution
Lawyers On Thursday.
"Accordingly The
Social Media Platform I.E. X (Twitter) Is Blocked."
Shehbaz Sharif Was Sworn
In As Prime Minister On March 4, The Leader Of A Shaky Coalition Of Parties
That Took Over From A Caretaker Government.
PTA Told AFP On Thursday It
Would Not Comment On The Issue, While The Military's Intelligence Agencies Have
Not Responded To Requests For Comment.
X Has Been Only Rarely
Accessible Since February 17, When A Senior Government Official Admitted
Vote-Tampering In Elections A Week Earlier.
"The Authorities First
Pretended That They Had No Knowledge Of The Case," Said Lawyer Abdul Moiz
Jaferii, Representing The Activists, Who Shared The Documents.
"But Now Their
Written Reply Admits That There Is A Problem And They Are The One Who Is
Causing It."
Ex-Cricket Star And
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan Was Jailed And Barred From Running After
Falling Out With The Country's Powerful Generals Top Brass, While His Party Was
Subjected To A Sweeping Crackdown Of Arrests And Online Censorship After
Protests That Directed Anger Towards The Military.
Rigging Allegations Were
Stoked By A Nationwide Mobile Internet Shutdown On Polling Day Which The
Caretaker Government Said Was Required For Security Reasons After Twin Bombings
A Day Earlier.
The Next Hearing For The
Case -- Which Seeks To Unblock X -- Is Scheduled For April 17.