KARACHI: Pakistan authorities blamed a mystery months-long Internet slowdown that has drawn backlash from activists and business leaders on damaged underwater cables.
Digital rights experts believe the state is testing a firewall — a security system that monitors network traffic but can also be used to control online spaces.
The government has previously blamed a surge in VPN use for the slowdown whilst also admitting that the country was “undergoing a transition.”
“The ongoing Internet slowdown across the country is mainly due to (a) fault in two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally,” Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the fault would be repaired by early October.
Internet networks have been up to 40 percent slower than normal since July, according to one IT association, while WhatsApp and VPN connections are severely disrupted.
The government and PTA for weeks refused to comment on the slowdown.
At the start of the month, defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the country was “undergoing a transition.”
He added that “there will be some controls to prevent threatening and defamatory content against the state and individuals.”
IT minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja later denied that the government was behind the Internet slowdown, blaming it on a surge in VPN use.
It comes as Pakistan’s military — the country’s most powerful institution — says it is battling so-called “digital terrorism.”
Analysts say the main target of the digital disruption is the party of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan, still wildly popular and boosted by a young, tech-savvy voter base.
Global rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Pakistan authorities to be transparent.
“The opacity of the Pakistani authorities regarding the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down and control Internet speeds is an alarming concern,” said the organization’s technology expert Jurre Van Bergen.
Pakistan is banking on its nascent but growing Information Technology industry to increase its exports and generate critical foreign exchange revenue for a cash-strapped country.
“Without immediate and decisive action, the country risks deeper economic fallout and a prolonged digital divide,” Shahzad Arshad, the chairman of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, said in a statement.
Pakistan blames mystery Internet slowdown on underwater cables
https://arab.news/2pfzp
Pakistan blames mystery Internet slowdown on underwater cables
- Government previously blamed a surge in VPN use for the slowdown whilst also admitting that the country was ‘undergoing a transition’
- Digital rights experts believe the state is testing a firewall that monitors network traffic but can also be used to control online spaces
Pakistan graft survey echoes IMF warning on weak governance, public dissatisfaction
- Most Pakistanis say they were not compelled to pay bribes, but distrust remains high in anti-corruption efforts
- PM Shahbaz Sharif calls report a recognition of his government’s efforts to fight corruption, promote transparency
ISLAMABAD: Governance weaknesses flagged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) appeared to align with findings from Pakistan’s latest corruption perception survey, analysts said on Tuesday, as Transparency International Pakistan (TI-Pakistan) reported widespread public dissatisfaction with the state’s accountability mechanisms.
TI-Pakistan’s National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2025 found that 58 percent of respondents fully or partly agreed that the IMF program and Pakistan’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list had helped stabilize the economy.
“Encouragingly, a majority of Pakistanis (66 percent) nationwide reported that they did not experience a situation where they felt compelled to offer a bribe to access any public service,” said the survey. “Sindh recorded the highest proportion of respondents paying a bribe to access public service (46 percent), followed by Punjab (39 percent), Balochistan (31 percent) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (20 percent).”
In this context, 77 percent said they were unhappy with the government’s anti-corruption performance.
However, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed satisfaction over the report in a statement, saying “a large majority of citizens said they did not face corruption during our government’s tenure” which is “recognition of our efforts to fight corruption and promote transparency.”
“It is highly encouraging that most citizens considered the government’s measures for economic recovery to be successful,” he said.
“We worked on a priority basis to establish a system grounded in merit and transparency across all sectors of government, and we are continuing to build on these efforts,” he added.
Economist and former finance ministry adviser Dr. Khaqan Najeeb said the survey highlighted the same structural weaknesses identified by the IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic, published on Nov. 20 at the international lender’s request, which said Pakistan suffers from “persistent and widespread corruption vulnerabilities” rooted in a state-dominated economy, weak regulatory capacity, and inconsistent enforcement.
“Transparency International Pakistan’s National Corruption Perception Survey does suggest progress in reducing low-level, day-to-day bribery, but it does not contradict the IMF’s governance findings,” he told Arab News. “Instead, it highlights that Pakistan’s real challenge lies in deeper, systemic weaknesses in transparency, oversight and institutional accountability.”
“While public perception has improved, it does not mean the underlying governance issues identified by the IMF have been resolved,” he argued, adding that addressing those will require sustained reforms, stronger institutions and consistent enforcement.
Political analyst Mazhar Abbas said the report was going to be used by the government to bolster its economic narrative.
“Survey reports have usually been tilted in favor of the government, and this report is no different,” he told Arab News. “The government will certainly use it to support its narrative of an improved economy, as the report states that a majority of respondents partially or fully agree that the government has successfully stabilized the economy through the IMF agreement and by exiting the FATF grey list.”
Abbas added it was difficult to either challenge or endorse the findings of the report without knowing who was interviewed and who the respondents were.
“The police have consistently been at the top of Transparency International’s corruption perception reports, whereas there may be other organizations where the frequency and volume of corruption are even higher,” he continued, adding that since the police are a public-dealing organization and consistently top the corruption perception index, it suggested that most respondents are from the general public, who may either lack access to or knowledge of corrupt practices in other organizations.
Islamabad-based social-sector development consultant Muhammad Qasim Jan said the survey should be seen as a barometer of public sentiment rather than an empirical measure of corruption.
“The National Corruption Perception Survey 2025 offers a sobering snapshot of how Pakistanis view corruption and accountability,” he told Arab News. “At the same time, the absence of basic methodological detail means the results should be interpreted with caution, especially when citing national percentages or making population-wide claims.”
