Suspension of IK’s account: X declined requests, PTA tells IHC

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that most of its requests to suspend Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan’s account were declined by X, formerly Twitter.

A single bench of Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir heard the case on Thursday, which concerns Imran Khan’s tweets against state institutions. In its reply, the PTA stated that it had approached X on three occasions over the past three and a half years, seeking the suspension of Imran Khan’s account.

The PTA informed that the authority first wrote to X on August 21, 2022, requesting that Imran Khan’s account be blocked and a second request was sent on April 18, 2024, citing convictions in the Toshakhana, cipher and Iddat cases, the report said.

The authority submitted the report during the hearing of a writ petition filed by citizen Ghulam Murtaza seeking the blocking of Khan’s X, formerly Twitter, account.

It told the court that a third request was made on November 27, 2025, seeking the blocking of “47 tweets” posted by the PTI founder. However, X acted on only one tweet, while the remainder of the request was rejected, according to the report.

The PTA stated that despite contacting X “three times” during this period, the social media platform declined to suspend the account. The authority also informed the court that it had directed social media companies to register with the PTA and appoint local representatives in Pakistan, but said the companies had “neither registered nor appointed a local focal person”.

The report further noted that social media companies are registered in their respective countries and “do not consider themselves bound by the laws of other states”, adding that complaints from other jurisdictions are assessed under each platform’s internal policies.

During the proceedings on January 21 and 22, Justice Arbab repeatedly raised concerns over the authorities’ failure to facilitate a meeting between Imran Khan and his counsel, PTI Secretary-General Salman Akram Raja, despite a court order issued on November 4 permitting such consultation. Raja told the court that he had not been allowed to meet his client even once since filing the case, stating: “I have filed the case, but I am not being allowed to meet my client.”

The court asked how proceedings could move forward without legal consultation, observing that final arguments could not be heard in the absence of lawyer-client access.

Without allowing the meeting, how will this case move forward? Justice Tahir remarked, adding that once the meeting was arranged, the matter could proceed to final arguments scheduled for February 24.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026