On August 20, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a call for responses from both the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) concerning a petition filed by senior journalist Hamid Mir.

Mir had filed a petition on August 16, through his lawyer, Advocate Imaan Mazari, citing violations of fundamental rights due to drastically reduced internet speeds, frequent network disruptions, and the federal government’s denial of these issues. According to the petition, the installation of the firewall and the resulting internet throttling have severely impacted the ability of journalists to perform their duties, particularly their engagement with the public on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter).

A single bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq conducted hearing of the petition.  During the hearing, Chief Justice asked if the internet had been slow lately. He mentioned that he would need more details before making any decisions and wondered if the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) or the Ministry of Information Technology should answer for the slow internet.

Mazari responded that the PTA hadn’t said much about it yet. When Farooq asked who from the PTA should come to explain, Mazari suggested that senior officials who know about the issue should be called.

Later, the bench sought responses from the government and the PTA and deferred hearing of the case till August 26 for further proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) is also looking into similar complaints about the internet. LHC called for a response from the federal government, the Ministry of Information, and the PTA. The court had instructed each party to ensure their representation at the next hearing, which is scheduled for August 21.