ISLAMABAD:
As digital problems continue unabated, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has revealed that internet shutdowns across the country are being carried out following government directives, sparking a heated debate in the Standing Committee on Technology. Senate information.
The revelation raised questions among panel members about the legality and justification behind cutting off digital access. The committee was informed that Pakistan was ranked 97th in the world in internet speed.
The session, chaired by Senator Palwasha Khan, raised serious concerns about the ongoing problem of slow internet speeds in Pakistan and the legal ambiguities surrounding internet shutdowns and content blocking.
PTA president Retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman faced tough questioning from panel members over widespread complaints about internet slowdown across the country.
The PTA president revealed that the authority received an average of 500 complaints daily about objectionable content on social media. “We ask social media platforms to block such content and 80% of the material is successfully removed,” he explained.
During a heated exchange, Senator Kamran Murtaza of JUI-F questioned the legal basis for shutting down the Internet in specific areas and asked, “What law allows this? How can Internet services be stopped without legal basis?”
In response, the PTA president clarified that the authority did not make such decisions independently. “The government is ordering us to impose internet shutdowns. If this is illegal, why has the government been ordering us to do it for the last nine years?” asked.
“I can provide exact dates and times that these closures occurred.”
Committee members also expressed concern over the practice of shutting down internet services, particularly after receiving directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
However, the PTA president responded that such closures had been a recurring problem since 2016, but were recently deemed illegal, adding that the Ministry of the Interior must provide final legal opinions on the matter.
The session also addressed the Electronic Crimes Prevention Law (Peca), whose provisions Murtaza challenged. The IT Ministry’s legal representative admitted that the law does not explicitly allow internet shutdowns in specific areas.
However, the PTA argued that the regulations empower the Home Ministry to issue such directives. However, he noted that the laws did not specify the blocking of Internet services in any particular geographical area.
Senator Murtaza criticized the impact of the closures, saying: “This amounts to pushing people into ignorance for political purposes. Education, business and access to libraries are disrupted when the Internet is blocked.”
The senator expressed concern about the legality of the ongoing closures, if it was not clear in the law, adding that the parliamentary committee should be provided with a clear legal framework for such actions.
The ministry’s special secretary explained that “in order to block all online content in an area, Internet services must be completely suspended.”
The committee demanded explanations from the relevant ministries.
PTA Chairman Hafeezur Rehman also addressed the issue of VPN regulation and revealed that only two companies had applied for licenses for VPN services so far. He added that VPN services largely remain operational despite previous shutdown directives.
He clarified that he had not authorized the closure of VPN services.
PTI senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand pointed out that the rules only mentioned blocking content, not entire networks.
To this, Rehman responded, asking whether actions taken on the orders of the Supreme Court or the high court, including app closures and internet restrictions, were also illegal.
As the debate intensified, the PTA president said: “You have all been part of the government at some point. These closures were implemented under official directives.”
The committee was informed that increasing fiberization was the only solution to improve internet speed, but that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure its expansion.
The PTA president highlighted that slow internet speeds will persist unless significant improvements are made to the country’s digital infrastructure.
Committee members subsequently sought detailed legal opinions from the Ministries of Justice and Home Affairs, highlighting the need for clarity on the overlap between the rules and the broader PECA framework.
