ISLAMABAD: Authorities did not take Pakistan’s information technology (IT) ministry into confidence ahead of mobile broadband suspension and social media blockades to quell unrest stemming from former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest last week, IT Minister Aminul Haque said on Tuesday.
Pakistan suspended mobile Internet services on May 9 shortly after Khan was taken into custody from the Islamabad High Court. The arrest sparked violent protests in the South Asian country that led to the deaths of around a dozen people and injuries to hundreds of others.
The mobile broadband service remained suspended for nearly three days and roughly caused IT-related industry more than Rs2 billion in losses. The access to social media and online platforms remained restricted for another three days and was finally lifted Monday night.
Speaking on the matter, Haque said imposing a ban on Internet or restricting access to social media was not a solution to any issue.
“Unfortunately, the way that has been in practice since the past, the same way was followed [this time too],” the minister told Pakistan’s Geo News channel.
“This restriction was imposed by the Ministry of Interior without taking the Ministry of IT into confidence.”
Pakistan has 52.79 percent mobile broadband penetration with 125 million subscribers, according to the country’s telecom regulator.
The mobile Internet blackout massively affected business in the South Asian country, particularly forcing daily wagers working with food delivery and ride-hailing services out of work for days.
Such a move not only causes irreparable losses to IT-related industries but also impacts Pakistan’s image in the world in a negative way, Haque said, who chose to distance his ministry from the recent curbs.
“We have a policy, Ministry of IT is against any such restriction that could hamper the growth process,” he 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-streming platform TikTok over charges that it promotes indecency.
