PTA ordered to follow rules in blocking websites

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) not to block any website against the provisions of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organisation) Act, 1996.
The court also issued notices to the federation, through the Ministry of Information Technology and telecommunication secretary and the PTA, through its chairman.

The petitioners, Awab Alvi, Sana Saleem, Faisal Kapadia, Nazim Haji, Naeem Sadiq, Noman Quadri and Ayesha Tammy Haq, moved the SHC on April 17, through their lawyer Haider Waheed, challenging the blocking/ censoring and restricting of various websites without affording the aggrieved persons an opportunity of being heard.
The petitioners said that no website could be blocked/censored or restricted without affording the aggrieved party, including the public at large, due notice in accordance with the constitution and Section 6 of the PTA Act, 1996.
Daily Times