Islamabad:
Islamabad’s additional judge of additional sessions, AFZAL MAJOKA, suspended a local tribunal order prohibiting 27 YouTube channels managed by various Pakistani journalists and content creators on Friday.
The judge heard a plea deposited against the prohibition. The judicial challenge was led by a certain number of lawyers, including Riasat Ali Azad, Zainab Janjua, Imaan Mazari and Farrukh Jillani.
Islamabad’s judicial magistrate Muhammad Abbas Shah, July 8, made a two -page order prohibiting 27 YouTube channels after hearing a request submitted by the National Agency for National Cybercrime (NCCIA).
The NCCIA had argued that the channels were involved in the spread of false and deceptive information against state institutions. The channels included those managed by renowned journalists such as Orya Maqbool Jan, Aftab Iqbal, Mutiullah Jan and Imran Khan Riaz and Asad Toor.
“”[This propaganda] is likely to cause fear, panic, disorders and disorders in the general public or society with defamatory and false remarks. [This also] Violates privacy and overnight to the dignity of civil servants of state institutions, “he added.
According to the NCCIA, through these channels, content creators tried to provoke the general public and the staff of the armed forces trying to create a feeling of bad will among the pillars of the state.
In his order, the court noted that after having examined the facts and the evidence presented by the head of the NCCIA investigation, the court was convinced that the chains were committing offenses under the Act respecting the prevention of electronic crimes (PECA), 2016 and criminal laws in the country.
“The chief / charge of the security / security guard service at Google LLC, D / A / B Youtube 901 Cherry Avenue, San Bruno, CA 94066 USA is therefore responsible for blocking / deleting said YouTube channel”, noted the order.
Asad Toor, whose story was one of those blocked, went to X to confirm the suspension of the ban.
The ordinance was the last in a series of Islamabad laws and regulations which allowed the authorities to repress criticism and dissidents. He has blocked social media platforms like X, Facebook and Tiktok several times in the past.
In January, Parliament introduced a new amendment to PECA to further regulate the content of the CYBER, which included a new regulatory authority for social media with its own investigation agency and its courts.
Toor said that neither the court nor the cybercrime agency gave him a chance to respond to allegations and that he would take legal action against the court order. “This is a dictatorial decision. It cannot be silent,” he said.
