ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has started registering virtual private networks (VPNs) to facilitate businesses and foreign missions in their “legitimate, secure and uninterrupted operations,” the country’s telecom regulator said on Friday.
Millions of Pakistanis have faced a mysterious months-long Internet slowdown that has drawn backlash from activists and business leaders who believe the state is testing a firewall to control online spaces. The Pakistani government has previously blamed a surge in the use of VPNs and damaged underwater cables for the slowdown whilst also admitting that the country was “undergoing a transition.”
The minister in-charge of the cabinet division, who is technically the prime minister, this month admitted to using a Web Monitoring System that utilizes peep packet inspection technology to detect and block VPN traffic and allows the government to monitor all Internet traffic entering or leaving Pakistan, according to a written response dated Aug. 26 to a question by Pakistani lawmaker Shahida Rehmani and seen by Arab News.
“To facilitate businesses of software houses, call centers, freelancers and foreign missions/embassies for their legitimate, secure and uninterrupted operations, VPNs are being registered under ‘one window’ operations available at PTA and PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board) website,” the PTA said on Friday.
“It is an ongoing activity which is being continuously streamlined by PTA, MoIT (Ministry of Information Technology), PSEB and P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association). Over 20,000 IPs (Internet Protocol addresses) have been registered for VPNs since 2020.”
The Internet challenges come as Pakistan’s military — the country’s most powerful institution — says it is battling so-called “digital terrorism.” Independent 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.
But State Minister for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja has repeatedly said the government was not behind the Internet slowdown, blaming it on a surge in VPN use. She has also rejected that the planned firewall will be used for censorship purposes.
Pakistan is banking on its nascent but growing IT 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, chairman of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, said in a statement this week.
Pakistan starts VPN registration amid slow Internet speeds
https://arab.news/phnqd
Pakistan starts VPN registration amid slow Internet speeds
- Millions of Pakistanis have faced a mysterious months-long Internet slowdown that has drawn backlash from activists and business leaders
- The government has previously blamed a surge in the use of VPNs and damaged underwater cables for the slowdown in the South Asian country
At UNSC, Pakistan warns competition for critical minerals could fuel global conflict
- The demand for critical minerals has surged worldwide due to rapid expansion of electric vehicles, advanced electronics and clean energy technologies
- Pakistan’s representative says all partnerships in critical minerals sector must be ‘cooperative and not exploitative’ and respect national ownership
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), has warned that intensifying global competition over critical minerals could become a new driver of global conflict, urging stronger international cooperation and equitable access to resources vital for the world’s energy transition.
The warning comes as demand for critical minerals and rare earth elements surges worldwide due to the rapid expansion of electric vehicles, advanced electronics and clean energy technologies, with governments and companies increasingly competing to secure supply chains while raising concerns that this may lead to geopolitical rivalries in the coming years.
Speaking at a Security Council briefing on ‘Energy, Critical Minerals, and Security,’ Ahmad said experience showed that the risks of instability increased where mineral wealth intersected with weak governance, entrenched poverty and external interference.
“Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy is essential for development, stability and prosperity. The global transition toward renewable energy, electric mobility, battery storage and digital infrastructure has sharply increased the demand for critical minerals,” he said.
“This upsurge has generated new geopolitical and geo-economic pressures. If not managed responsibly, competition over natural resources can affect supply chains, aggravate tensions, undermine sovereignty and contribute to instability.”
In several conflict-affected settings, he noted, illicit extraction, trafficking networks and opaque financial flows have fueled armed conflict and violence, weakened state institutions and deprived populations of legitimate revenues.
“The scramble for natural resources and its linkage to conflict and instability is therefore not new,” Ahmad told UNSC members at the briefing. “Pakistan believes that natural resources must serve as instruments of economic development and shared prosperity, and not coercion or conflict.”
He urged the world to reaffirm the right of peoples to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources, saying all partnerships in the critical minerals sector must be cooperative and not exploitative, respect national ownership, ensure transparent contractual arrangements and align with host countries’ development strategies.
“In order to prevent the exploitation of mineral-producing countries and regions, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings, support their capacity-building for strengthening domestic regulatory institutions, combating illicit financial flows, ensuring environmental safeguards, and promoting equitable benefit-sharing with local communities,” he asked member states.
“Promote equitable participation in global value chains. Developing countries must be enabled to move beyond extraction toward processing, refining and downstream manufacturing. Technology transfer, skills development and responsible investment are essential to avoid perpetuating structural imbalances.”
