Government in the dock over internet disruption

LHC judge expresses displeasure with govt lawyer's reply

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD:

The issue of internet slowdown reached the high courts on Friday, a day after the minister of state for information technology and telecommunication confirmed complaints of slow speeds due to the installation of a content-filtering firewall.

On Thursday, several businesses and customers, who relied heavily on internet for their work, vociferously opposed the government's decision to install the firewall, saying it had resulted in the disruption of internet for over a week.

The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) as well as parliamentarians finally broke their silence and spoke against the firewall at a time when the telecom operators were not ready to raise their voice about internet outages.

On Friday, Justice Shakil Ahmad of the Lahore High Court (LHC) heard a petition seeking the court's order to declare the government's action of internet shutdown as illegal and unlawful. A similar petition was also filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), arguing that the firewall infringes people's rights.

During the hearing in LHC, Justice Shakil Ahmad expressed his displeasure when the government's lawyer sought time for submitting a detailed report on internet shutdown. The judge remarked that it was a matter of public interest.

At the outset of the proceedings, the lawyer representing the federal government told the court that the government would ask the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) about the issue and then submit a report.

On that Justice Ahmad asked the lawyer whether the PTA had taken federal government into confidence over the shutdown of the internet. Expressing his displeasure, the judge further told the lawyer that he [the lawyer] was not even aware of the basic information about the shutdown.

Advocate Nadeem Sarwar, the lawyer for the petitioner, contended that if the internet shutdown was in the interest of national security and law and order, the public should have been intimated about the closure.

He submitted that millions of Pakistanis relied on internet services to connect with each other and to undertake essential business activities. By blocking, filtering, or shutting down these services, the government was eroding civic space, including access to healthcare, emergency and financial services.

Giving examples, Sarwar said, hundreds, if not thousands, of companies were affected, such as the ride-hailing companies, food delivery services and social media platforms. Besides, he added, blocking internet services was tantamount to curtailing freedom of expression and the right to information.

Sarwar further stated that the internet shutdown also violated the right to education provided under Article 25-A of the Constitution and the fundamental right of business, trade and profession guaranteed under Article 18.

Another petition against the installation of content-filtering firewall was challenged in the IHC. The petitioner argued that, apparently, the internet speed decreased drastically because of the installation of the firewall.

The petition, submitted through Iman Mazari Advocate, said that the firewall installation should undergo consultation with all stakeholders. It requested the court to declare access to the internet for livelihood as a fundamental human right.

Earlier this week, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) expressed concern over the installation of firewall and requested the federal government to review the decision and hold consultation with the IT industry on the matter.

P@SHA Senior Vice Chairman Ali Ihsan had said that the operations of IT companies were badly affected due to prolonged internet outage, adding that the industry had lost $300 million due to the internet shutdown. He also expressed concern over the design and purpose of the firewall.

He stated that there was an opinion among international companies that the firewall would compromise data, while the IT industry perceived this digital disruption as a threat to the national economy. He called for a transparent procedure to make cyber security effective.

The matter was also taken up in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on IT & Telecom. Senator Afnanullah stated that the country was already facing an enormous economic crisis, and if the internet issue wasn't resolved, the country could eventually lose its $3 billion in IT sector exports.

Hours later, Minister of State for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja told reporters in Islamabad that complaints of slow internet speed because of the firewall had been received and the ministry had summoned report from the PTA.

She defended the installation of the firewall, terming it a cybersecurity measure. "All countries in the world are using firewalls. "Cyber-attacks on the country are increasing. The state must prevent cyber-attacks," she said.

On Friday, the internet services limped back to normalcy after persistent problem for the past two weeks. The problem of downloading images and messages on social media apps – WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram etc were resolved.