ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed the concerned authorities to take appropriate measures to restore the internet 3G/4G facilities in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah also expressed its surprise over the non-availability of the internet facility.
The petition was filed by Sayed Muhammad, resident of district Kurram, who studies at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML).
During hearing the case, the chief justice asked the counsel whether there is no internet facility in the area at all, adding how was it possible that the whole merged area be deprived of such important facility.
The IHC issued notices to the Information Technology secretary and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman and sought a written reply in the next hearing.
Counsel Raheem Wazir contended that access to the internet was a constitutionally guaranteed right under Article 19 and 19-A. He said the students were required to have access to the internet due to online teaching following the lockdown.
He argued that the students and the general public of the former FATA shouldn’t be denied their constitutionally guaranteed rights by refusing to give access to the internet.
Raheem informed the court that the people of the merged districts restricted to their homes due to the lockdown. “The people from across the country are enjoying the internet facility and the students are being given online classes, while thousands of students from tribal districts are being deprived of this much-needed facility,” he argued.
The counsel for petitioner apprised the bench that due to the non-availability of the internet the precious education years of students, including the petitioner, would be wasted. The counsel replied that they wrote several times to the prime minister, chief minister and governor KP to resolve the issue; however the issue remained unaddressed hitherto.
He said that the students of the seven tribal districts have been protesting for the last ten days demanding internet facility so as their precious year could not be wasted. The chief justice sought written reply from both the parties, while adjourning the case till April 23.
