Net users’ rights: IHC restrains govt from blocking websites

Bolo Bhi NGO challenges IMCEW and terms its working non-transparent

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) has restrained Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Evaluation of Websites (IMCEW) from blocking websites after its legality was challenged.

Justice Athar Minallah on Monday issued restraining orders in response to a petition of Bolo Bhi, an NGO which is working for the rights of internet users, which described the working of the committee as non-transparent and requested the court to declare it illegal.



Babar Sattar, the counsel for the petitioner while challenging the legal position of the committee, informed the court that the workings of the committee have been non-transparent and dubious.

The counsel told the court that the committee comes under Ministry of Information Technology and was constituted in 2006 through an executive order and for eight years it has been issuing orders for content takedown without any meeting of members which is illegal. “There is no public record of its members and meetings,” he argued.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the committee has no legal standing and it has arbitrarily conferred upon itself powers.

Justice Minallah also issued notices to chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and secretary ministry of information technology and sought their reply in two weeks. .

The court also sought a detailed report of blocked websites and also asked the ministry to submit minutes of the meeting of the committee.

After preliminary hearing the court adjourned the matter for two weeks. It may be noted that PTA blocked many websites and Facebook pages on the direction of the committee.

In a press release issued later, the NGO said through an assessment of its constituting documents, which was obtained by the NGO through a right to information request filed earlier this year, the requests the PTA was to act upon were limited to blasphemous and pornographic content. However, the committee’s directives have extended well beyond that.



According to the press release, two years of conversation and research and observing the prevailing practice has revealed the committee is prone to political hijacking and pressure. It has been used to personal and political ends to stem ‘undesirable’ and dissenting opinion.

Facebook’s most recent transparency report is a testament to that. The report reveals 1,773 pieces of content were restricted by Facebook in compliance with Pakistan government requests, not only on grounds of blasphemy but also ‘criticism of the state’, the statement said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2014.