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Pakistan’s telecom regulator says social media access ‘restricted’ until further orders from interior ministry

In this file photo, taken on November 13, 2022, labourers watch live screen of a cricket match on a mobile phone along a street in Rawalpindi. (Photo courtesy: AFP/File)
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Updated 14 May 2023
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Pakistan’s telecom regulator says social media access ‘restricted’ until further orders from interior ministry

  • Pakistan’s IT minister says trying to restore access to social media websites in Pakistan
  • Access to Twitter, Facebook was restricted on Tuesday amid nationwide protests
Updated 14 May 2023
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Access to social media websites Twitter and Facebook will remain restricted in Pakistan until further orders from the interior ministry, a spokesperson of the country’s telecom regulator said on Sunday.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior on Tuesday night suspended mobile broadband services and temporarily cut off access to online platforms Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube as unrest spread across the country following former prime minister Imran Khan's arrest.

Thousands of Khan supporters took to the streets across Pakistan on Tuesday, clashing with law enforcers, burning tyres, and attacking military installations in many parts of the country to protest their leader's arrest.

While mobile broadband services were restored after Khan was granted bail in several cases and released from jail, social media websites remained inaccessible in Pakistan.

“Mobile broadband services have been restored, only social media access has been restricted,” the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesperson Malahat Obaid told Arab News, adding that access would only be granted if the interior ministry issues directives to do so.

Pakistan’s Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Syed Aminul Haque, said he is trying to resolve the issue by speaking to authorities. He hoped Pakistanis would soon be able to access Facebook and Twitter again.

“I am personally against a ban, suspension, or restriction on any social media,” Haque told Arab News. “The PTA, however, doesn't come under my ministry. It directly comes under the cabinet division,” he added.

“But I am trying to remove restrictions on access by taking it up with relevant quarters,” the minister added.

Bans on social media websites Twitter and Facebook are common in Pakistan in the wake of unrest in the country or in blasphemy cases. In February this year, Pakistan blocked the online encyclopedia Wikipedia for a couple of days, accusing the platform of displaying “blasphemous content” on its platform.

The South Asian country has also frequently banned the short-video platform TikTok over charges that it promotes indecency.

“When TikTok and PUBG were banned during the previous regime of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, I raised my voice against it,” Haque said. "When Wikipedia was recently banned, I removed the ban within 24 hours,” he added.  

Haque, however, said he was also against the negative use of social media.

“As I am against banning and restrictions, I also oppose the negative use of social media for propaganda and inciting violence,” Haque said. “I strongly condemn the attack on the monuments of [Pakistan Army] martyrs and ghazis (victorious warriors),” he said.

Reports in Pakistani media said the telecommunication sector had suffered a loss of $2.85m since Tuesday while ride-hailing apps and online food and grocery delivery service foodpanda are also said to have suffered losses due to the internet shutdown.

Topics: Ex-PM Imran Khan arrested internet access Internet Shutdown

Pakistan condemns Sudan attack that killed Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers, calls it war crime

Updated 16 sec ago
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Pakistan condemns Sudan attack that killed Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers, calls it war crime

  • Six peacekeepers were killed in a drone strike in Kadugli as fighting between Sudan’s army and the RSF grinds on
  • Pakistan, a major troop contributor to the UN, says perpetrators of the attack must be identified, brought to justice
Updated 16 sec ago
Fatimah Amjad

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday extended condolences to the government and people of Bangladesh after six United Nations peacekeepers from the country were killed in a drone strike in southern Sudan, condemning the attack and describing it as a war crime.

The attack took place amid a full-scale internal conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group, following a power struggle after the collapse of Sudan’s post-Bashir political transition.

Omar Al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for nearly three decades, was ousted by the military in 2019 after months of mass protests, but efforts to transition to civilian rule later faltered, plunging the country back into violence that has since spread nationwide.

The drone strike hit a logistics base of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, on Saturday, killing the Bangladeshi peacekeepers. Sudan’s army blamed the RSF for the attack, though there was no immediate public claim of responsibility.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the attack on @UNISFA in Kadugli, resulting in the tragic loss of 6 Bangladeshi peacekeepers & injuries to several others,” the country’s permanent mission to the UN said in a social media message. “We honor their supreme sacrifice in the service of peace, and express our deepest condolences to the government and people of #Bangladesh.”

“Such heinous attacks on UN peacekeepers amount to war crimes,” it added. “Perpetrators of this horrific attack must be identified and brought to justice. As a major troop-contributing country, we stand in complete solidarity with all Blue Helmets serving the cause of peace in the perilous conditions worldwide.”

According to Pakistan’s UN mission in July, the country has deployed more than 235,000 peacekeepers to 48 UN missions across four continents over the past eight decades.

Pakistan also hosts one of the UN’s oldest peacekeeping operations, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), and is a founding member of the UN Peacebuilding Commission.

More than 180 Pakistani peacekeepers have lost their lives while serving under the UN flag.

Pakistan and Bangladesh have also been working in recent months to ease decades of strained ties rooted in the events of 1971, when Bangladesh — formerly part of Pakistan — became independent following a bloody war.

Relations have begun to shift following the ouster of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year amid mass protests.

Hasina later fled to India, Pakistan’s neighbor and arch-rival, creating space for Islamabad and Dhaka to rebuild their relationship.

Topics: Sudan Pakistan

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