Interesting discussion between members and PTA Chairman in the Standing Committee meeting on the issue of internet shutdown

 January 01, 2025

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Islamabad: In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology, the Chairman PTA said that whenever a letter from the Ministry of Interior arrives, the internet is shut down. This practice has been going on before my arrival. 

 A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on IT was held under the chairmanship of Senator Palush Khan, in which officials from the Ministry of IT and PTA gave a briefing on the disruption in internet service. 

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While briefing the meeting, the PTA Chairman said that 500 complaints about social media content are received daily. The PTA requests social media platforms to block the content, upon which the platforms block 80 percent of the content. 

During the meeting, Senator Kamran Murtaza said that if it is not written in the law, how can you block the internet? Where in the act does it say that the internet has to be blocked in a specific area? To this, the legal member of the Ministry of IT said that the act does not clearly mention any specific area.

On this occasion, the PTA Chairman said that it is written in the rules that the Ministry of Interior can give instructions to the PTA. If this is wrong, then why has the government been shutting down the internet for 9 years? I can tell you the date and time when the internet was shut down. Internet and social media applications are shut down on the orders of the Supreme Court. Social media apps have been shut down many times on the orders of the Supreme Court and the High Court.

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The PTA Chairman said that all of you have been in the government at one time or another. Since 2016, whenever a letter from the Ministry of Interior comes, the internet is shut down. This practice has been going on before my arrival. Today, it was found out for the first time that the shutdown of the internet is wrong. Was the shutdown of the internet on February 8, the election day, also wrong? The Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Interior can give the final legal opinion in this regard. 

 Senator Humayun Mohmand said that isn't it the ministry's job to tell the Supreme Court that this thing is not in the Act or Rules, that even in the Rules only the content is mentioned, to which the Special Secretary of the IT Ministry said that all online content in an area is blocked only by shutting down the internet. 

The Chairman PTA said that we have taken a stand on the issue of VPN closure and will not allow it to be closed. The registration process for VPN service providers was started on December 19. Two Internet service providers have applied for licenses. It is hoped that a large number of applications will be received. 

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The PTA Chairman said that 7 submarine cables are coming to Pakistan, one submarine cable is coming under the name of Africa, connectivity with this cable will be done this year, 4 more submarine cables are being connected in the coming years, sharks cannot eat submarine cables, we are at 97th place in terms of internet speed.

Later, the standing committee summoned officials from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Law