Minister draws flak for 'weird' explanation on internet disruptions

Govt's attempt to attribute recent internet disruptions to a surge in VPN usage has sparked a firestorm of criticism

ISLAMABAD:

The government's attempt to attribute recent internet disruptions to a surge in Virtual Private Network (VPN) usage has sparked a firestorm of criticism from digital rights advocates, businesses, and IT experts.

The explanation, provided by State Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, has left many unconvinced, raising more questions than answers.

At a recent press briefing, the minister claimed that the surge in VPN usage had placed undue stress on the country's internet infrastructure, leading to significant slowdowns. However, this explanation failed to hold water, leaving many unconvinced.

Digital Rights Advocate Farieha Aziz voiced strong criticism, stating, "The minister should first explain what has caused this sudden surge in VPN use if not their ban on X and more recently the WhatsApp disruption due to which media could not be transferred or downloaded on data."

The expert further added that Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, has already clarified that there is no issue on their end and that it is a local fault. "So, what is causing this," Farieha questioned.

The advocate further expressed concern over the government's communication strategy, recalling after earlier saying the firewall is for cyber security, Shaza has now stated that the government has done nothing to the Internet.

"We will see how this claim stands in the days to come" Farieha said, recalling when X was blocked, the information minister said there was no issue, X was working just fine, then a technical glitch or issue at X's end.

Later, she said, a notification banning X had emerged. "So it is likely once all is done there may be acknowledgement but the government obviously does not believe in disclosure or transparency and they continue to mislead and lie publicly," Farieha said.

The advocate's remarks reflect growing frustration over the lack of transparency and consistency in the government's handling of internet-related issues. As the government pushes forward with its plans to improve IT infrastructure, the demand for greater accountability and openness is becoming more pronounced.

M Tanveer Nandla, an IT and digital marketing expert, while commenting on the minister's explanation reiterated the question Farieha asked: "Why people were forced to use VPN in the first place?"

Without going into technical details, the expert said, it was her confession statement through which she admitted that people were using VPNs because of the internet disruption. "There is a confession in her statement that there was some problem and that is why a large number of people were forced to use VPN," Nandla said.

Nandla accused the government of deliberately disrupting the internet on random IPs, at random times, and in random regions to create confusion about whether the service was functioning.

He argued that the slowdown was a result of the government's "clear-cut ill-intention," aimed at serving political interests and stifling freedom of expression.

Reportedly, Nandla said, the government was using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) firewall, saying communication or data travels in data packets on the internet and the packets are analysed through the firewall when shared between the communicators.

"As a result of it, a bottleneck is created and thus the speed drops," Nandla explained.

Another reason for the slowdown is that DPI requires intensive resources and modern hardware, he said, adding that installing a firewall in the existing system slows everything down due to misconfiguration and lack of synchronisation. As a result, he noted, the internet speed suffers.

Meanwhile, Nandla also pointed out that he has learned that the government has asked the cellular companies to write to WhatsApp or its parent company, Meta, about slow services so that the same could be presented as proof in the coming days that the issue was not at the government's end.

Apart from the digital rights advocate and IT experts challenging the validity of Shaza's explanation, businesses and the general public decried the internet's slowdown. Initially, the government largely remained tightlipped but has now given an explanation which has widely been questioned.

"The Internet slowdown is due to the installation of a national firewall and content filtering system by the state aimed at increasing surveillance and at censoring political dissent, especially the criticism of the security establishment for its interference in politics," digital rights expert and activist Usama Khilji told AFP.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Software Houses Association called on the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Kashif Anwar to discuss ongoing internet disruption and its severe impacts on the IT sector, saying the damage has already been done and warned of a worsening crisis if immediate action isn't taken to Damage done address IT sector concerns.

"Frequent internet outages, slow speed and high cost are crippling our economy and hindering ability to compete in the global market," said the LCCI president.

Shahzad Arshad, head of the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, while talking to AFP warned that if "this continues, we will see a mass exodus of businesses from Pakistan".

He added that connectivity had slowed by up 40 per cent over the past month.