Pakistan is holding provincial, national, and presidential elections today, Thursday, 8 February 2024. These make up the 106 elections that are happening globally this year and which we are tracking for Internet shutdown activity (see table below).
Read: 2024, Year of Elections (and Hopefully Not Internet Shutdowns)
Per Aljazeera (see below), Pakistan authorities have ordered mobile Internet and phone services to be suspended nationwide to “maintain law and order”.
While the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) publicly stated that it will not shut down the Internet in the lead-up to and during the day, there have been reports of mobile Internet and mobile service disruptions and website censorship.
On 7 February, the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) reported results from its web connectivity test that show PTI political party websites (one of Pakistan’s largest political parties), and investigative news platform Fact Focus have been blocked.
‼️ #Pakistan blocked PTI political party sites and investigative news platform (@FactFocusFF) ahead of 2024 electionshttps://t.co/r3adpoMM70
— OONI (@OpenObservatory) February 7, 2024
Our report shares OONI data on the blocks, which primarily appear to be implemented by means of TLS interference. pic.twitter.com/Nnqnpc322l
Cloudflare Radar reported today that several local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are showing signs of outages, including CMPak Limited (6.14M users), Jazz (5.16M users), and Telenor Pakistan (3.07M users). All of these outages happened between 1:45 and 2:30 UTC (6:45 and 7:30 local time).
Disruptions to #mobile #Internet connectivity in #Pakistan have been observed on @telenorpakistan, @Zongers, and @jazzpk starting at 0200 UTC, despite assurances from @PTAofficialpk that mobile services would remain active on Election Day, February 8.https://t.co/pDxw6qjMmE pic.twitter.com/cfyn3Efy3H
— Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) February 8, 2024
Reports from X/Twitter users are also noting mobile connectivity being down but landline Internet and phone connectivity still being available.
◀️Pakistan Elections 2024▶️
— Fatima Ali (@FatimaAli876) February 7, 2024
➡️ Internet Shutdown News, Voting for Pakistan Parliamentary Election 2024 will be held in Pakistan on Feb 8, 2024. Meanwhile, many incidents of violence have come to light.
➡️In the meanwhile, Pakistan's Interior Minister Gohar Ejaz on Tuesday said… pic.twitter.com/HOItrN2KbD
INTERNET SHUTDOWN IN PAKISTAN.@RepSwalwell @RepKatiePorter @amnesty @linfordandrews @GEJonathan@nazrag @BMalimali @ahmedissack7861 @BelindaKora1 @UmaruFofana @brianspeers1 pic.twitter.com/t2EeMW2aMW
— Haider Ali (@Haider4PTI) February 8, 2024
Pakistan’s History of Internet Shutdowns
Since 2019, Pulse has recorded nine Internet Shutdown events, including two in 2023, both related to ongoing political tensions. One recent report notes online transactions processed through Pakistan’s primary digital payment systems experienced around a 50% decline during the Internet shutdown following Imran Khan’s arrest.
The majority of these shutdown events have been regionally focused, although on 16 April 2021, Pakistan’s government ordered the country’s telecoms agency to shut down social media and instant messaging platforms for four hours amid fears that a radical group could use social media to perpetuate violent protests that were occurring at the time.
Report: Tracking Internet Shutdowns in 2023
During a High Court hearing into the unauthorized shutdown of Internet service in the country reported last month, PTA’s counsel said that interest in the upcoming elections would increase Internet traffic and slow down services. “PTI is the most popular political party in the country, and followers from all over the world search for it. That is why there are problems,” the lawyer claimed.
More to come.
Photo by Hamid Roshaan on Unsplash