KARACHI: Pakistan experienced nationwide social media disruption on Sunday just as former prime minister Imran Khan’s party began its online rally, an event acknowledged by a party official and confirmed by an independent Internet watchdog.
Khan is facing a number of court cases against him and is currently incarcerated in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi after being convicted in a graft case in August.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been striving to launch its election campaign in his absence and had announced a virtual public gathering on social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, in a post that had been shared by thousands of its followers.
People in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad reported difficulty accessing social media platforms at about 8 pm, with additional complaints about disrupted Internet services.
“They want to block us wherever we go because they are afraid of us,” PTI spokesperson, Raoof Hasan, told Arab News. “But we will continue our work.”
A London-based Internet watchdog, NetBlocks, also confirmed social media disruption across Pakistan in one of its posts.
“Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across #Pakistan, including X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” it said. “The incident comes just ahead of a major virtual gathering organized by persecuted opposition leader Imran Khan’s party, PTI.”
Khan’s PTI party has repeatedly said its top leader has been targeted by the Pakistani authorities who want to eliminate him from the country’s political landscape. The country’s media watchdog has banned his speeches on satellite television and suspended some news channels for airing them in the past.
The PTI has also complained about not getting a “level playing field” ahead of the next general elections scheduled to be held on February 8.
A spokesperson of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) didn’t respond to request for comment over the development.
