The Islamabad High Court has rejected the report of the Federal Ministry of Interior in the trial against the closure of social networking website X and directed the Interior Secretary to present concrete evidence.
In the hearing of the case related to the closure of social networking website X in the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday, the Federal Ministry of Interior submitted a report, the contents of which were termed insufficient by Chief Justice Amir Farooq.
During the hearing on the petition of journalist Ehtisham Abbasi against the closure of X, when the Joint Secretary Federal Ministry of Interior appeared, the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court expressed his anger and said that they have come from the Ministry of Interior, now let’s see what they have brought.
During the hearing, the Joint Secretary revealed that X has been closed on the report of security agencies. To which the Chief Justice replied: ‘If you read it, tell me what you have said, bring the details.’
Chief Justice Amir Farooq inquired, ‘Which method is this? What is this behavior? What is Court Aid? Neither file nor anything else has been brought. Can you tell me why I should write? Everything is done knowing everything is closed.’
The Chief Justice expressed indignation and added: ‘Should I call the secretary? Mr. Joint Secretary write down everything not verbally, is there a security threat? Show the documents, there will be no word of mouth.’
The joint secretary said that the content uploaded on the internet was a threat to national security and peace, to which the chief justice said: ‘I have said not to speak. Give me the reasons. I do more than you in speech.’
The Chief Justice, while looking at the report, remarked, ‘What is this? My secretary will make a better report than this report. I won’t listen to that.’ On this, the Federal Joint Secretary said that look at the second page.
The Chief Justice said: ‘What is this way of appearing in court? Is this your first appearance?’
The Joint Secretary said that the report states that the content against national security has been blocked due to uploading.
The Chief Justice inquired: ‘There will be no evidence either on the Intelligence Bureau (IB) report you raised and closed the X.’
The Chief Justice further said that no reasons were written in the report. This is only a speculative report. Why are we hearing these things today? These things happened last week.
‘Call the interior secretary, it’s not up to him. If there are decisions of other courts, then submit them, do not do the things that were done in other courts here.’
The Chief Justice was angry and said, ‘What should I do, what should I write, the government is tired and cannot work? You’re just making promises, you don’t have anything. There is malice in every institution, what can I say. I will call the interior secretary, only then something will happen.’
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
The Chief Justice said, ‘The election is over, just end it now, let the Home Secretary come and see. If the interior secretary does not come, I will call the prime minister.’
The joint secretary said: ‘Give a chance, don’t call the higher authorities, give the court a chance.’
On this the Chief Justice said: ‘You have not brought anything to do.’
Later, Chief Justice Amir Farooq summoned the Federal Interior Secretary in his personal capacity on April 17.
He said that let’s see the case in other courts as well, who plays first and which court decides first.
In the hearing of the case related to the closure of the social networking website X, the Chief Justice asked the Federal Secretary, Ministry of Interior, to present in writing the reasons and evidence related to the threat to national peace from the content uploaded on the Internet and X. instructed to do.
He further said, ‘A report based on assumptions should not be submitted, if there is a threat to national security, give concrete evidence and reasons to the court.’
#XBandash #Home #Secretary #ordered #court #evidence
2024-04-30 21:45:33