EDITORIAL: Last week saw the State Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima presenting a detailed five-year plan aimed at increasing country’s IT exports to USD 25 billion.
The minister had been tasked by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to prepare an ambitious strategy to boost Pakistan’s IT exports at a time when the sector had witnessed a worrying slump.
While the minister of state, in her presentation, had much to say about the necessity for effective resource utilisation and imparting the needed education, skills and technical know-how to tech workers to overcome the obstacles faced by our fledgling IT sector, what was missing in her briefing was any mention of the government’s own highly draconian policies that have stifled this segment, particularly through its exceedingly heavy-handed control over digital spaces and the growing restrictions on online freedoms.
The events of the past year or so, marked by intense political turmoil and protests against the ruling dispensation, have laid bare the authorities’ playbook of dealing with dissent: tightening control over digital spaces as a means of controlling narratives and suppressing critical opinions, leaving little room for opposing voices.
This was put into sharp focus during PTI’s protest march in the federal capital, with the authorities blocking mobile data, not only in the city but in many other parts of the country, severely hampering daily life for millions. This was just the latest instance of the government’s increasing use of digital blackouts as a tool to suppress dissent and control the flow of information.
Over the past year, there have been multiple actions that have impacted both fundamental freedoms and the IT sector’s immense economic potential, including social media bans like the one on X, and the setting up of a firewall, or what the government has conveniently termed a Web Management System, which caused internet speeds to plummet by up to 30-40 percent in recent months.
Additionally, the introduction of draconian laws that give vague definitions of what constitutes ‘harmful’ speech to stifle opposition and the ongoing clampdown on VPNs further demonstrate the authorities’ tightening grip on the digital sphere.
All these actions have combined to not only curb core liberties, they are also undermining the very environment that is needed to promote innovation, attract investors in the digital ecosphere, and posit the country as a regional tech hub.
Pakistan’s drift towards authoritarianism has clearly led to the digital sphere emerging as a battleground for suppressing dissent. Although the country’s history is replete with countless instances of restrictions on critical voices, the above-mentioned actions are threatening to take this pattern to alarming extremes.
The authorities either do not realise the extent of the harm they are wreaking on the digital landscape and the immense potential it has in propping up a fragile economy, or they simply don’t care about the consequences of their actions.
All the lofty rhetoric regarding boosting of IT exports and establishing a thriving digital ecosystem ends up sounding hollow as it is evident that the powers-that-be would rather shut off the country from the digital revolution the world is experiencing and the vast opportunities for economic growth and development it offers than be faced with speech that they deem harmful.
This is not to say that there should be tolerance for speech that incites hatred and violence. However, the government’s approach is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as the blanket suppression of dissenting opinions through slowing down internet, clamping down on VPNs, banning of websites and hounding of those who voice criticism does not only curtail essential debate, it also carries grave economic consequences.
The resulting suppression of innovation, the potential collapse of IT businesses, and the disruption of the freelance ecosystem, which millions rely on for their livelihoods, threaten to undermine the foundations of Pakistan’s digital economy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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