EDITORIAL: Internet shutdowns and nationwide disruptions to social media platforms, of late, have regrettably become routine occurrences in the country, leading many to attribute motive to the actions of Pakistani officialdom since these outages have ended up coinciding with the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) holding virtual events.
The latest such ‘coincidence’ was observed on January 20, which led to much frustrated comment by the citizenry, calling out the caretaker government and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for disrupting the online activities of millions of people for ostensibly political purposes.
Trying to control people’s online activities through internet shutdowns not only reeks of authoritarianism, in the digital age but such actions also come across as rather absurd. However, what is even more bizarre is the response of the caretaker authorities to the criticism they faced, with the information minister blaming “technical” issues and system installations for recent outages across the country. The caretaker minister also went on to say that there was “no guarantee” that such incidents won’t occur in the future while the PTA director general has quite bluntly stated that such episodes could continue to transpire “for the next two to three months”. The officials, however, didn’t care to explain why these technical glitches and system up-gradation work have so conveniently coincided three times over the past month with the PTI holding online rallies.
Even if we take the explanations offered by the government at face value, the caretaker authorities and the PTA then have a duty to answer the subsequent questions that arise in the wake of their clarifications. If these recent internet outages are indeed due to technical issues and for system up-gradation activities, the citizenry then has every right to be given a schedule well in advance of when such work will be carried out in the future so that they can plan ahead for their online engagements.
In addition, given the far-reaching ramifications that internet disruptions have on the economy and on the lives of millions of people, it is only fair to expect more transparency on the part of the PTA when it comes to sharing details of the system installation/up gradation work it claims to have undertaken.
It is clear that imposing arbitrary restraints on internet access not only infringes on the rights to freedom of expression and information that are essential attributes of any democracy but it also has an adverse impact on the country’s dynamic digital landscape that has played a vital role in shaping public discourse over the past decade. It is a sad state of affairs that the latest instance of disrupting internet access for a population of over 240 million occurred just a day after Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had spoken in detail about the importance of the public’s rights to freedom of speech and access to information, which have been guaranteed by the Constitution’s Articles 19 and 19-A. The authorities would also do well to pay heed to the 2018 Islamabad High Court ruling that declared internet shutdowns to be unconstitutional as they violate citizens’ fundamental rights.
Furthermore, it is also important to highlight that Pakistan’s rapidly-growing digital landscape has the potential to be the silver lining for a struggling economy. The country is in no position to afford the economic cost of such arbitrary actions, which runs into millions of dollars and adversely impacts Pakistani freelancers, e-commerce businesses and tech startups, hampering the progress of our emerging digital ecosystem.
The reality is that this rigorous control over internet access violates the rights of millions to attain knowledge, communicate and earn their livelihoods. The authorities would do well to acknowledge the adverse consequences of their actions and rectify them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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