The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday claimed that its websites were "blocked" within Pakistan ahead of the general elections scheduled for Feb 8, demanding an explanation from the authorities concerned.
Facing the absence of its signature 'bat' electoral symbol for the upcoming polls, the PTI has nominated its candidates as independents with different electoral symbols.
To address potential confusion among voters and to facilitate access to election-related information, the party introduced an online portal on its website, insaf.pk, along with a "back-up site", pticandidates.com.
The party's official X account tagged the official handles of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, and interim IT Minister Umar Saif.
Hello @murtazasolangi @umarsaif and @PTAofficialpk , can you explain why PTI’s websites are blocked in Pakistan?
— PTI (@PTIofficial) January 26, 2024
People are still getting symbol information from Imran Khan’s Facebook page so the question is what purpose is this block serving? https://t.co/JAQ3B3FfGd
The post inquired, "Can you explain why the PTI's websites are blocked in Pakistan?" and questioned the purpose of the block when people could still obtain symbol information from Imran Khan's Facebook page.
Earlier, a fake web portal, resembling one launched by the party, was providing incorrect information to voters about the PTI-backed candidates.
In recent weeks, there have been multiple nationwide internet outages coinciding with the PTI's online events. The most recent disruption occurred on Jan 20, with internet services interrupted an hour before the PTI's "virtual power show".
The PTI recently moved the top court against the internet suspensions, asking it to take notice of the disruption of popular social media platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Read Telecom operators decry social media blackout
Similar disruptions were reported on Dec 17 and Jan 7, prompting the party to appeal to the Supreme Court to take notice of the internet suspension.
A day earlier, the Sindh High Court restrained the relevant authorities from suspending internet services till the general elections on Feb 8.
The order came on a petition filed by human rights defender and lawyer Jibran Nasir, who is contesting the polls for PS-110 as an independent candidate, against the frequent “unconstitutional” internet outages in the country in recent days.
On Jan 22, interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi blamed “technical issues” for the recent internet outages across the country, saying that there was no guarantee that such incidents would not occur in the future.
'Technical issues'
The PTA said the internet was disrupted because of a “technical fault”.
To a question regarding internet outages and whether the government would resolve to prevent such instances during the Feb 8 general elections, Solangi said: “As per my information, the reasons [for disruptions] are technical and there are some matters of system installations involved as well.”
PTA DG Pirzada attributed the outages to “technical glitches” and system upgradation, saying: “You can face this for the next two to three months.”
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