Islamabad High Court Orders PTA, Pemra and NCCIA to Report on Online Harassment Laws

Pakistan's Islamabad High Court has ordered the federal government and the country's media, telecoms and cybercrime regulators to report in writing on how laws against online harassment, blackmail and the unauthorised sharing of private material are actually being enforced. A single-member bench led by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir issued the directions in an interim order on a petition filed by Dr Raana Ahsan, The News reported on Tuesday, October 27.
The respondents — the federal government, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) — must each file a comprehensive report on the measures they have taken. The court wants detail on online safety, the removal of unlawful content, the protection of children and other vulnerable users, the prevention of harassment and blackmail, and how complaints about the misuse of electronic and digital media are handled.
The bench also directed the interior secretary to convene a meeting with the information technology ministry, Pemra, the PTA, the NCCIA and other departments to identify where coordination is failing, clarify which body is responsible for what, and set out a workable enforcement mechanism — including what legal remedies exist against platforms that do not comply. A joint report with an implementation timetable must then go back to the court, which has fixed the next hearing for November 23, 2026.
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