LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has directed the NCCIA Director General to take indiscriminate action against individuals running campaigns against judges on social media.
Justice Ali Zia Bajwa of the Lahore High Court heard a petition filed by Parvez Elahi Bhaddar.
During the hearing, the NCCIA and PTA DGs appeared before the court.
The court questioned why no effective action had been taken against those running campaigns against the judiciary. It remarked that it appeared the NCCIA only acted against wealthy YouTubers and alleged that officials were working for financial interests.
The NCCIA DG informed the court that 200 links and 79 social media accounts had been examined. Eleven suspects involved in contempt of the judiciary had been arrested. He further stated that NCCIA previously had 74 IT officers on contract, but their contracts had expired.
The court observed that the department should have IT experts. In response to the court’s inquiry, the PTA DG stated that several letters had been written to social media platforms, but they claimed their offices were based in Singapore and had no office locally. He added that Google is expected to open an office in Pakistan next year.
The court remarked that establishing an office locally would take time and suggested amendments to the law. The PTA DG also informed the court that after contacting WhatsApp over hacking incidents, the platform had introduced an additional verification feature.
The court reminded the NCCIA DG that he had assured indiscriminate action would continue but noted that no practical steps were evident. The DG responded that five teams had been formed to conduct cyber patrolling.
The hearing was adjourned after the court sought a compliance report for the next session.
