ISLAMABAD: Pakistani engineers have developed and successfully tested a government messaging app for secure communication among officials, authorities said Tuesday, even as Islamabad restricts social media use and regularly shuts down Internet and mobile phone networks to prevent dissent.
Should the government approve it, the messaging platform could eventually also be available to millions of citizens, said Baber Majid, chief executive officer at the country’s National Information Technology Board.
Enter “beep,” a chat application that Pakistani authorities say is exclusively homegrown.
“Beep has already successfully undergone trial runs since 2023 and is now ready for launch,” Majid said.
Meanwhile, ordinary Pakistanis have been struggling to access the social networking platform X, which authorities blocked ahead of the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections earlier this year, a vote overshadowed by violence, an unprecedented national shutdown of all mobile phone services and allegations of vote rigging.
Authorities later insisted that the phone service suspension was necessary for security reasons, but critics and Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan have said the real intention was to disable communication to allow for vote rigging — a charge the government denies.
There have also been frequent Internet restrictions in southwestern Balochistan province and elsewhere. Pakistan every year suspends phone services during the Ashura, an Islamic commemoration when minority Shiite Muslims hold processions.
Pakistan imposed five separate Internet restrictions during and after the elections, according to research by the Netherlands-based cybersecurity company Surfshark B.V., which offers VPN services and data leak detection. It also tracks cases of government-imposed Internet and social media disruptions.
“Such actions taken by the government undermine the very aspect of democracy and make it impossible for fair elections to take place,” it said.
Pakistan’s phone and Internet suspensions have also affected communication between officials and security forces. Hence “beep,” which Majid said would ensure uninterrupted communication among officials.
He said the app has been designed to share text, audio, and videos and hold conference calls. It requires an Internet connection but Majid did not elaborate on measures that would restrict Internet availability to just Pakistani officials — or possibly whoever else gets approval to use the app.
“Beep is safer than other messaging apps,” he said.