IHC gives govt one month to review, amend social media rules

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday gave the government one month to review and amend the new social media rules, and put off the hearing of the case until April 2. 

Hearing a plea against social media rules, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said the court would decide the case after seeing a report of Attorney General of Pakistan Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah. The attorney general sought one month time to submit the report and said the government wanted to consult all stakeholders first on the issue. He said the government had heard some people on this issue, but it wanted to hear some more people’s views. 

The chief justice approved the attorney general’s request and directed him to submit his report on the issue on April 2. He said the court would decide the case on the basis of attorney general’s report. He directed the court staff to fix all applications against the social media rules on April 2. A contempt of court case against TV anchors would also be heard on April 2.