The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday, while seeking a detailed reply in the firewall and slow internet speed case by September 3, also directed the government to inform the court if it had anything to do with a security or national interest, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Chief Justice (CJ) of the IHC Justice Aamer Farooq also ordered the member Ministry of Information Technology to appear in the court on the next hearing in person.

Earlier, during the hearing of the petition filed against the installation of a firewall and slow internet speed, the government failed to give a satisfactory answer to the court.  

The CJ remarked that whatever work being done in the country was dependent on the internet. “Ministers give contradictory statements. Sometimes they say that a firewall has been installed while sometimes they reply in negative,” he said, and added, “Consequently the entire nation is confused.”  

Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) lawyer said that first there were reports that two cables had been snapped. “Now we have learnt that another one has also been snapped.”

Justice Farooq asked, “Whose responsibility is to look after these cables? Is it PTA or any other department?”

The judge lamented that the government was not taking the issue seriously. “The government pretends as if it has no idea what is going on,” he remarked.

The deputy attorney general told the court that it was not due to the installation of a certain device by the government that the speed had been slowed down.

The chief justice said everybody dependent on the internet, including traders and industrialists, had been complaining about the problem for the last 10 days. “An issue, which could have been fixed overnight, is unresolved even after the passage of two weeks,” he said.

The government’s stance, he went on to say, was that if the internet was not working properly, then there was no harm in it. “Bear this thing in mind that today we are not living in the last century when if a telephone became out of order, nobody would fix its fault,” the chief justice reminded.

The petitioner’s lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari, on the occasion, told the court that the internet was functional. “However, WhatsApp is not functioning properly. People are facing difficulties in sending messages and videos.”

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani