The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday sought responses from the government and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) over senior journalist Hamid Mir’s petition against the nationwide internet slowdown.

Internet speeds have witnes­sed a considerable decline over the past few weeks, and users are facing difficulties in sending or down­loading media and voice notes through WhatsApp when connected to mobile data, and experiencing slow browsing speeds, even on broadband.

The business community and internet service providers (ISPs) had alleged that the government’s efforts to monitor internet traffic — including a so-called ‘firewall’ — had caused the slowdown of digital services, resulting in economic losses.

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While the country’s information techno­logy minister, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, had confirmed that the government was upgrading its “web management system” to cope with cyber security threats, she has categorically denied rep­orts of the government “throttling” the internet.

In a petition, filed through Advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir on Friday, Mir had sought redressal for the glaring violations of citizens’ fundamental rights due to the apparent installation of a firewall, drastically reduced internet speeds, routine network disruptions, and the federal government’s denial of these issues.

Today, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq took up Mir’s petition and sought responses from the government and the PTA by August 26 (Monday).

Speaking to the media after the hearing, Mazari recalled that Justice Farooq asked the additional attorney general (AAG) about the government’s stance on the internet disruptions.

Mazari quoted the state counsel as replying that he “did not use the internet and hence was not aware of the matter”. She further quoted Justice Farooq quipping that certain things are “common knowledge” even if the AAG did not use the internet.

Mazari said she had urged the court to summon the PTA chairman as the authority was “completely silent” on the issue. However, other representatives from the PTA have been summoned.

The rights activist termed Khawaja’s recent comments, which had blamed the widespread use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for the cyber slowdown, as “ignorant”. “People are using VPNs as you have banned X [and] major functions of applications such as WhatsApp are not working,” she stated.

The hearing

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Farooq asked: “Has the internet slowed down these days?”

He said he would seek details on the matter before issuing any orders and asked whether the PTA or the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication should be questioned over slow internet speeds.

To this, Mir’s counsel Mazari responded that the PTA has remained silent on the matter so far.

Justice Farooq then asked whether to summon the PTA’s secretary or joint secretary, at which Mazari requested the court to summon senior officials of the ministries concerned.

In response, Justice Farooq said that those individuals would be summoned who had knowledge of the issue and could brief the court.

Separately, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has also summoned representatives from the federal government, the information ministry, and the PTA tomorrow over another petition against the internet disruptions.

The petition

In his petition, Mir had requested that the court declare that there can be “no installation of any firewall that impacts citizens fundamental rights without, at the very least, extensive consultative process/consultations/deliberations with all relevant stakeholders and keeping in view Constitutional safeguards for fundamental rights”.

It further requested that the court declare access to the internet and the right to connectivity a fundamental right under Pakistan’s Constitutional scheme, adding that “only reasonable restrictions on the same may be imposed by law and keeping in view the principles of necessity and proportionality”.

The petition also requested that the respondents submit reports detailing information on the “firewall”, and that all work on the firewall be suspended and citizens’ uninterrupted access to internet services be restored.