A court has issued notices to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Religious Affairs Ministry to respond to a writ petition seeking a permanent ban on "access to pornographic websites".

Taking up a petition filed by a man named Sohaib Ahmad, Lahore High Court Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan directed the respondents yesterday to file their replies within a month.

Fahad Ahmad Siddiqui, the lawyer representing Ahmad, sought the ban on pornographic websites by saying that the "state religion of Pakistan is Islam and it has been undertaken in the Constitution that steps shall be taken to enable Muslims of the country to make their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam".

Siddiqui said the Constitution made it clear that state would take "necessary steps for social justice and eradication of social evils" and "prevent prostitution, gambling and taking of injurious drugs, printing, publication, circulation and display of obscene literature and advertisements".

The counsel said popularisation of the internet by the government was a welcome step but for the younger generation, this path was full of dangers.

The youth is now exposed to a flood of information and knowledge but at the same time, they have to browse through junk emails "luring them to visit pornographic websites", he claimed.

Siddiqui requested the court to ban the circulation and display of obscene literature and advertisements through these websites, which must be permanently blocked.

He asked the court to direct the government to draft a regulation to monitor cyber porn traffic in the country.

This regulation could be on the lines of the mechanism devised to control telephony traffic, he contended.