ISLAMABAD: What appears to be a revelation, State Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has said that the frequent use of VPNs is the actual cause of internet slowdown in Pakistan, saying she is ready to say on oath that the government neither shut down the internet, nor slowed it down.

“I can say this on oath that the Government of Pakistan neither shut down the internet, nor slowed it down.”

Addressing a presser here on Sunday, she said some applications were not being able to download, so people started using VPNs, adding using a VPN (virtual private network) can cause a phone to slow down.

IT minister dismisses reports govt throttling internet

The state minister, who, till recently, seemed to be a strong advocate of the internet firewall, terming it a vital security requirement for the state, looked to avoid questions of the journalists related to the firewall.

“There is a fault in PTCL (Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Company Limited) cable, which is causing issues related to internet—and the slowdown in internet speed was caused by the excessive use of VPNs,” Khawaja said.

Some reports suggest that private online businesses in Pakistan have suffered losses after the government allegedly slowed down the internet speed, a move allegedly connected to the installation of internet firewall, to take on digital terrorism, a term recently coined by the top military and government officials. The move to slow down the internet is seen as a desperate attempt on part of the government to stop massive social media criticism in the wake of unprecedented economic hardships the public is presently faced with.

The IT state minister said the federal government would establish National Digital Commission, under the leadership of the prime minister, for ensuring digitisation of national economy and paperless governance. She said the PM allocated 60 billion rupees to IT sector despite tough conditions. She said the IT exports witnessed a record increase and crossed Rs 3 billion this year. Over Rs 4 billion rupees have been allocated for training of the youth in IT sector, Khawaja said. She said Huawei Pakistan will impart IT training to around 300,000 youths of the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024