Internet service in Pakistan to remain suspended for indefinite period
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced that internet services would be suspended across the country for an indefinite period, following the blocking of mobile broadband services on the Ministry of Interior’s directives.
The move was made after protests erupted in response to the arrest of Imran Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The protests led to violent unrest and the sharing of clips on social media, after which major platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram reportedly became inaccessible to many users.
This outage was compounded by already slow internet speeds in Pakistan, making access to information difficult for citizens.
Khan’s arrest occurred the day before, when he was taken into custody by Rangers personnel in connection with a warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau.
Following his arrest, the PTI urged its supporters to protest and “block all roads, close all shops,” which led to demonstrations in several cities, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, and Mardan. The protests resulted in clashes with police, damage to public property, and the setting on fire of police vehicles.
The outage-tracking website, Downdetector.com, confirmed that users were unable to log in to their accounts on all three social media platforms, meaning they could neither post nor view content.
The PTA spokesperson said that the regulatory authority was receiving reports of social media platforms being down, but these reports could not be confirmed. Furthermore, WhatsApp was not working for many smartphone users on both desktop and mobile devices.
Sameen Daud Khan, a researcher who worked on Pakistan’s Internet Landscape 2022 report, expressed concern about the situation. She called the outage “a shambolic turn of events,” saying that it robbed people of the fundamental right of access to information guaranteed by law. Pakistan ranks among the world’s worst countries in terms of internet access, and it is unfortunate that whenever the political climate in the country heats up, such measures are viewed as a necessity.
