San Francisco
Social media platform X said on Thursday it would work with the Pakistani government “to understand the concerns” after authorities insisted the continued two-month ban was based on security reasons.
The platform, formerly known as Twitter, was launched in February when jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party called for protests after government officials admitted vote rigging in the February election. It has been almost inaccessible since the 17th.
“We continue to work with the government of Pakistan and understand their concerns,” Company X's Global Government Affairs team posted in its first comment since the site was suspended.
The Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that X was blocked for security reasons, according to a report filed in the Islamabad High Court, where one of several challenges to the ban is being heard.
On the same day, the Sindh High Court ordered the government to restore access to social media platform X within a week.
“The Sindh High Court has given the government one week to withdraw the letter, otherwise appropriate orders will be passed on the next date,” said a lawyer challenging the ban. Moiz Jaaferi told AFP.
The full court decision is expected to be released this week.
For weeks, the government and Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) refused to comment on the outage.
The Ministry of Home Affairs report states that “it is up to the federal government to decide what constitutes a preview of Pakistan’s ‘defense’ or ‘security’ conditions and what measures are necessary to protect national security. It is our unique privilege and domain.” , submitted by senior official Khurram Agha.
The Interior Ministry suggested that intelligence services were behind the order.
Closing social media services “if requested by security or intelligence agencies” is “well within the scope of the provisions of the PTA Act,” the report said.
But digital rights activists said it was aimed at quashing dissent following the Feb. 8 poll, which was fraught with allegations of fraud.
Access to X was sporadic, sometimes available in short cycles depending on the Internet service provider, and required users to use a virtual private network.
Mobile phone services were cut across Pakistan on voting day, with the interior ministry citing security reasons.
After that, there was a significant delay in announcing the voting results, and suspicions of tampering arose.
Khan's opposition party had already been under heavy censorship in the weeks before the election, banning its TV channels and holding rallies and forcing it to campaign online.
Despite the crackdown, his party won the most seats, but was kept from power by a coalition of rival parties backed by the military.
