Internet giant Google is all set to appear in the court of Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Thursday at the Lahore High Court in reference of the ongoing YouTube case to explain its position on the banning of the video sharing service YouTube.
The petitioner’s counsel, Latif Hamdani, has filed a writ petition challenging the internet curbs by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, including but not limited to YouTube.
“The petitioner is of the view all internet curbs are counterproductive and deprive Pakistanis the right to access of information as well as the right to counter any propaganda against the country or against what they believe in strongly,”Hamdani said in a statement.
He went on to say, “Taking away YouTube’s access is the modern equivalent of taking away the scholar’s pen. Imagine if Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was not allowed to respond to scurrilous attacks on the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the 19th century. Islam has a tradition of free speech, discourse and toleration that goes back 14 centuries and we should not abandon that tradition now when we need our best and the brightest to defend, counter and clarify the misconceptions about our great faith.”
Hamdani also said that while efforts were underway to find a middle ground between internet freedom and offensive materials, ultimately all curbs would hurt Pakistan more than it would hurt those who were engaging in scurrilous and offensive rhetoric.
“Our students, teachers and researchers have been deprived of a great resource of knowledge and information. It hurts the material progress of Pakistanis, a great majority of whom are Muslims,” Hamdani said.
“The PTA made an incorrect submission when they declared that they could not ban individual URLs especially HTTPS URLs. The recent ban on Beghairat Brigade’s video on Vimeo shows that individual HTTPS URLs can be easily blocked,” he continued.
He was of the view that the across-the-board block on YouTube, therefore, was unjustified.
The court has already begun exploring various ways in which Google, the parent organisation of YouTube, can be given Intermediary Liability Protection, so that it may be allowed to come and introduce Youtube.com.pk domain which would allow the reopening of YouTube.
