The Islamabad High Court on Thursday sought a reply from Ministry of Information and Technology secretary and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman in response to a petition seeking the blockage of all websites containing blasphemous and pornographic contents on the internet.
The petitioner, Babar Awan, said that despite the ban on YouTube, the blasphemous and pornographic material was still available on the internet, which speaks of inefficiency of Ministry of Information and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui directed the respondents to submit their reply in one week after Awan informed the court that Information Ministry had issued a notification on May 31, 2012 directing PTA to take requisite measures for blocking websites containing blasphemous and pornographic contents on internet. He argued that after the passage of seven months, PTA had failed to implement on the directives. The petitioner maintained that he also filed an application before the authority, adding that he had gotten no reply from them. He told the court that PTA was a regulatory authority and could formulate rules and regulations for implementation of the policy under the PEMRA laws. He said that PTA had failed to deliver so far. The petitioner contended that PTA was bound to implement the directives of the ministry for eradication of the blasphemous and pornographic content and said that it must make a separate unit to monitor blasphemous and pornographic content on the internet. He said that pornographic content was available on the internet and it could be seen directly from the websites, search engines and host sites. He said that YouTube was banned in Pakistan, however these sites could be seen through host sites or softwares.
He said that PTA had failed to purchase any software through which such content could be easily scrutinized.
He requested the bench to direct the respondents to take firm measures to scrutinize the blasphemous and pornographic content on the internet.
IHC moved for blocking blasphemous and pornographic websites
