*The Islamabad High Court (IHC) came down hard on the PakistanTelecommunication Authority (PTA) over the new social media rules.*

During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that the PTAshould take into account the objections raised by the Pakistan Bar Council(PBC) regarding the social media rules.

When the PTA lawyer started to give an example of India, the judgerestrained him and said if India doing something wrong, does that givePakistan the reason to do the same?

He asked who had proposed these new rules and which authority approvedthem, *Express News* reported. The court said that if these rulesdiscourage criticism, it will also discourage accountability.

The IHC said no government or law and order is above criticism, adding thatcriticism should be encouraged and not discouraged.