Blockage of ‘X’: PPP leader sees a ‘dangerous’ model of governance

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Human Rights Cell President Farhatullah Babar said that the government’s blocking the social media platform “X” on the advice of the intelligence agencies represents a dangerous model of governance in which a ‘security paranoid establishment’ takes decisions without accountability and without regard to economy, education, and democratic right of expression.

He said in a statement on Thursday in response to the admission before the Sindh High Court (SHC) after a month-long denial by the Interior Ministry that it had blocked the social media platform “X” on the advice of the intelligence agencies.

Likewise, the statement made by the PTA chief before the court that his organisation was in a state of “confusion” amounts to adding insult to injury. What confusion is there when the Interior Ministry itself acknowledged that it ordered the suspension of “X” on February 17, he said.

He said that the suspension was ordered soon after a senior bureaucrat in Rawalpindi made startling allegations against the chief election commissioner and the top judge for manipulating the February 8 elections.

He said, “This raises the troubling question that while “X” was blocked, neither the allegation by the senior bureaucrat investigated nor was he prosecuted- Why?”

He said, second, if no one took responsibility for the whole one month for blocking “X” what confusion the PTA had in mind that prevented it from restoring the social media platform on its own?

He said that even while in the meantime several orders were passed by the SHC, the PTA did not restore “X”. Did the PTA chief assume that given his background of previous service in another institution he could flout the court’s orders with impunity?

The Interior Ministry’s admission came a few days after the federal information minister acknowledged that “X” was already blocked during the caretaker set-up and that there was no notification for the clampdown. He said that this begs the question that if Attaullah Tarar did not find any notification blocking “X” why the government fail to investigate the blocking of social media platform?

“The ‘confused’ PTA has been denying all along that blockage was even in place. It owes an explanation. It must come out clean,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024