Internet and social media services in Pakistan faced severe disruptions on Sunday night as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, prepared for a massive online campaign ahead of elections. Khan and key PTI leaders were disqualified as candidates, alleging interference by the military-led establishment. The PTI’s planned telethon for manifesto launch and campaign funds faced internet disruptions. Netblocks, a cybersecurity watchdog, noted the consistency of such events during opposition activities, calling the scale almost unprecedented, comparable to measures seen in Venezuela to limit opposition activities.
“The incident is consistent with previous social media filtering events which have all been imposed during opposition party rallies or speeches by opposition leader Imran Khan,” said Netblocks, a watchdog organization that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.
Netblocks Director Alp Toker told AFP the disruptions were affecting network providers across the country. “Such nation-scale social media targeting political activities is almost unprecedented at this scale – Venezuela is one other country that has used similar measures to limit opposition speeches and rallies,” he said.
**My comments: This is Infact true. As you expect in a 3rd world country, not many people have internet access anyways - a far lower percentage than you’d imagine. And for those who do; not many are tech literate enough or care enough to have a VPN.
Cutting off internet access is smth that Pakistan does a lot. If youre thinking oh there must be one good and one bad side/ party then well know that Pakistan isn’t a democracy and never has been. It’s an odd theocratic government run by the army. Whoever the Chief Of Army Staff backs that year gets to be in power (just for name) as the military runs the country.
Ps. It’s illegal for me to say any of this online as criticizing the military on social media was made illegal a few years ago. And theyve been killing joirnalists who talk against them forever anyways.**
In the end, the military is very aware of how fragile it’s control is and that’s why they’re putting these measures into practice even though they hurt their economy. Strong federal control has never been a characteristic of Pakistan.
The military has never not been in control, barring a short period post Musharraf and even then it was only their reputation they didn’t have under control. Honestly tho, personally it doesn’t matter who’s in charge, there could be a matial law tomorrow and life would go on, in a downwards spiral as it long has.