Claim: After a 7-month hiatus, X is now accessible in Pakistan after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) formally lifted the ban on the social media platform. It may be unclear whether this restoration is permanent but users can connect and post again.
Fact: X has not been unbanned in Pakistan.
On 12 September 2024, ProPakistani, Economy.pk (now-deleted) and Daily Ausaf, claimed that X (formerly Twitter) is now accessible in Pakistan after a 7-month ban was lifted. These articles and posts claimed that a PTA lawyer confirmed to the Sindh High Court that the petition which sought the ban on X in February has been withdrawn.
Interestingly, articles about this published by ProPakistani and Daily Ausaf were exactly the same, verbatim.
Fact or Fiction?
The PTA issued an official clarification on 12 September 2024, stating, “It is clarified that X is not accessible in Pakistan”
This video was published at 9:48 AM on 12 September 2024. It shows lawyer Abul Moiz Jaferii speaking to members of the press. Abdul Moiz Jaferii is one of the petitioners challenging the disruption of X before the Sindh High Court.
He says “[Translation] Sir, one of the PTA lawyers stated in the hearing for a connected petition that the letter which sought to block Twitter on 17 February has now been withdrawn. Then the court asked him to clarify his position and he repeated the same. Although in our case, the PTA lawyer did not make any such statements. Anyway, on the basis of this statement the court noted in regarding the connected petition, now we will know for sure once the written order is released, but the court noted that the government’s stance is since the letter has been withdrawn Twitter access has been restored, and with that they disposed of the petition. And for further arguments and clarity in our case, they postponed hearings for our petition for two weeks.”
This casts a shadow of doubt on the reports claiming that X has now successfully been unbanned in Pakistan. Soch Fact Check found that X was still inaccessible through mobile internet and wifi, without a VPN on 12 September X. At the time of publishing, the social media platform is still banned in Pakistan and can’t only be accessed by using a VPN.
Soch Fact Check also contacted Abdul Moiz Jafferii, the lawyer who could be seen talking to the press in the abovementioned video. Jafferi explained that there are currently three connected petitions in the Sindh High Court seeking to lift the ban on X, and they were all adjourned for two weeks. He also said, “I do not consider Twitter to have been unbanned. This was a ruse of a sort and we will explore more on the next hearing.” He also told us that the connected petition for which the PTA lawyer made the controversial statement was filed by the lawyer Jibran Nasir.
Soch Fact Check also spoke to Jibran Nasir, who sent us a copy of the court order. In the order, the court notes that several petitions are challenging the restriction imposed on access to X. It further said that in one of the connected petitions, the counsel for the PTA Ahsan Imam Rizvi submitted a statement that the concerned Ministry has “instructed” him that the letter which caused X to get blocked has been withdrawn. The order further stated, “there is no other impediment in the restoration of blockage of ‘X’ (formerly, called as twitter), as not disclosed, it stands restored.”
However, it also noted that PTA’s other counsel Saad Siddiqui “claimed to have not been instructed in this regard as Mr Ahsan Imam was by the PTA. We are surprised if there could be two diversified instructions of the same cause to different petitioners.” The court adjourned the hearings for two weeks and disposed of the petition.
Virality
On Facebook the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: X has not been unbanned in Pakistan.—
Background image in cover photo: Islamabad Post
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