Pakistan Urged to ‘Immediately Unblock Twitter/X’ By Rights Groups After Month-Long Blockade – News18

Pakistan’s nationwide disruption to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is about to complete a month, with activists and several rights groups waging a court battle to get it restored.

“We, a collective of human rights activists and civil society organisations, express profound concern over the increasing instances of internet shutdowns and social media platform blocking, specifically in the lead up to and following the general elections in Pakistan,” twenty-eight civil society groups said in a joint statement, including the likes of Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

‘Immediately unblock Twitter/X’

The platform was downed after jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party called for protests against a government official’s admission of vote manipulation in last month’s election. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party faced a sweeping crackdown ahead of the February 8 poll, forced into opposition by a coalition of military-backed parties despite winning the most seats.

“The arbitrary blocking of platforms, including the prolonged and unannounced disruption of “X” (formerly known as Twitter) since 17 February 2024, is a sobering illustration of growing digital censorship in the country,” the statement added. “…We urge the government and public bodies to; Immediately unblock Twitter/X in Pakistan Repeal sections of the law such as Section 37 of PECA that enable censorship and violate Article 19 right to freedom of speech and press freedom and Article 19-A right of access to information Act with transparency on decisions that impact the free use of the internet, including for political and economic purposes.”

Journalists and academics have filed a case in the Sindh High Court in the mega city of Karachi against Pakistan’s Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for the outage. In a hearing last Thursday, the telecommunications authority sought more time to respond to the challenge. The government has not commented on the outage. Access to X has been sporadic, occasionally available for short cycles based on the internet service provider, forcing users to virtual private networks (VPN), Alp Toker of the NetBlocks internet monitor was quoted as saying by AFP.

Mobile internet services were cut across Pakistan on election day, with the interior ministry citing security reasons. It was followed by a long delay in issuing voting results. The opposition party had already faced heavy censorship in the weeks before the election, banned from television channels and from holding rallies, forcing its campaign online.

(With agency inputs)