Court asked to ban porn sites

Petitioner asks LHC to direct IG Punjab to register cases against ISPs violating the law.

LAHORE: A petition was filed in Lahore High Court on Wednesday seeking ban on pornographic sites and cancellation of licences of internet service providers failing to block these.

Petitioner Kashif Waseem submitted through his counsel, Fahad Ahmad Siddiqi, that the easy availability of obscene material online was one of the reasons behind violence against women. Siddiqi submitted that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had issued a list of 170,000, websites to the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, Wateen Telecom, WorldCall Telecom Limited, LINKdotNET, Wi-Tribe Wireless Broadband Internet Service, Broadband Internet Service Provider, Qubee Pakistan, Mobilink Infinity, COMSATS Internet services, and Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT directing them to stop providing access to porn sites.

He said none of these companies had complied with the PTA and Pemra directions. He requested the court to cancel their licences and direct the IGP to register criminal cases against the respondents.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2012.