YouTube Ban: LHC to wait three weeks for Google's reply
LHC adjourns hearings till June 6 as Google administration mulls whether to appear before the court or not.
The ban was imposed on September 17, 2012. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Mansoor Ali Shah while hearing a petition challenging the ban on YouTube on Thursday, adjourned hearings till June 6 on the request of the Ministry of Information Technology.
The court was informed by the law officer representing the ministry that Google‘s administration, parent company of YouTube, is still considering if it should appear before the Pakistani court therefore the proceeding should be adjourned.
YouTube was blocked across Pakistan on September 17, 2012 following orders by then-prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf after the video sharing website refused to honour requests of the Pakistan government to block or remove clips from a sacrilegious film from the website.
The court on previous hearing had sought assistance of the ministry on the matter and had also directed it to approach the Google administration and seek their point of view.
The deputy attorney general had previously told the court that the federal government was willing to lift the ban, but could not till the offending clips could still be accessed on the website.
In the petition on behalf of the NGO ‘Bytes for All’, Advocate Yasser Latif Hamdani submitted that all internet curbs are counterproductive and deprive Pakistanis of their right to access of information as well as the right to counter any propaganda against the country or against what they believe in strongly.
In the petition, Hamdani said that taking away YouTube’s access is the modern equivalent of taking away the scholar’s pen. He argued that ultimately all curbs would hurt Pakistan more than it will hurt those who are engaging in scurrilous and offensive rhetoric. On the other hand, Pakistani students, teachers and researchers have been deprived of a great resource of knowledge and information.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Mansoor Ali Shah while hearing a petition challenging the ban on YouTube on Thursday, adjourned hearings till June 6 on the request of the Ministry of Information Technology.
The court was informed by the law officer representing the ministry that Google‘s administration, parent company of YouTube, is still considering if it should appear before the Pakistani court therefore the proceeding should be adjourned.
YouTube was blocked across Pakistan on September 17, 2012 following orders by then-prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf after the video sharing website refused to honour requests of the Pakistan government to block or remove clips from a sacrilegious film from the website.
The court on previous hearing had sought assistance of the ministry on the matter and had also directed it to approach the Google administration and seek their point of view.
The deputy attorney general had previously told the court that the federal government was willing to lift the ban, but could not till the offending clips could still be accessed on the website.
In the petition on behalf of the NGO ‘Bytes for All’, Advocate Yasser Latif Hamdani submitted that all internet curbs are counterproductive and deprive Pakistanis of their right to access of information as well as the right to counter any propaganda against the country or against what they believe in strongly.
In the petition, Hamdani said that taking away YouTube’s access is the modern equivalent of taking away the scholar’s pen. He argued that ultimately all curbs would hurt Pakistan more than it will hurt those who are engaging in scurrilous and offensive rhetoric. On the other hand, Pakistani students, teachers and researchers have been deprived of a great resource of knowledge and information.