Senate panel grills IT, PTA officials on VPN

Members wary of internet closure

ISLAMABAD:

Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) severely criticised the performance of the IT ministry regarding provision of internet service in the country with particular emphasis on the ongoing issue of VPN registration.

The committee chair, Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Kamran Murtaza of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Afnanullah Khan of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML), raised several questions about the role of interior ministry in these matters.

The committee met here with Palwasha Khan in the chair. The committee received a briefing from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman on various aspects of the internet service in the country and the use of the Virtual Private Network (VPN).

"The country is currently facing internet issues. People's businesses are being destroyed but the minister of state [for IT] is not participating in the meetings," Palwasha Khan observed. "Why is the minister of state avoiding answering questions? It means the ministry's performance is not good," she added.

Earlier, the PTA chief acknowledged that the IT industry could not run without the VPN, saying that normal users – freelancers and companies – also needed it. He added that if the user had the registered VPN, the internet would never stop.

Taking part in the discussion, Senator Kamran Murtaza warned that blocking internet would amount to violation of basic human rights. The JUI senator pointed out that a firewall had been installed with public money.

Senator Afnanullah Khan told the committee that the VPN issue was the domain of the IT ministry so why the interior ministry was sending letter on it. Other members also raised the question that when the VPN was a tool, from where the debate of 'Halal and Haram' emerged.

The PTA chairman told the committee that a VPN registration policy was framed in 2016 and the present government had revived it. "We have restarted the registration. If VPN is registered internet will never stop again. So far, we have registered 25,000 VPNs," he said.

"Whenever the internet shuts down, the industry suffers. If the VPN registration is done, the internet will continue working," he added. He emphasised that the users of the VPN application needed whitelisting companies to ensure internet continuity.

Senator Afnanullah pointed out that the ministry of interior could give instructions regarding social media applications, adding that the VPN was a tool and not the social media. However, an IT ministry official replied that the VPN made access to the social media possible.

Some members angrily retorted that if this was the case then all the smartphones, computers, and other devices should also be shut down. "We closed Twitter but TikTok is running. Are the videos on TikTok ethical," Senator Afnanullah asked.

Kamran Murtaza asked the officials as to what the IT ministry was doing on the internet shutdown issue which had been going on since February 17. He mentioned that internet had been shut down in Balochistan for three days. "Is it because of the use of the VPN?"

The IT ministry's member legal informed the committee that VPN did not fall in the domain of the social media, but added that obscene content could be blocked under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. On that Senator Humayun Mohmand stressed the need for creating awareness on such content.

The PTA chairman replied that VPN was like an open sea and everyone could see what they wanted. "We have closed more than 500,000 websites that had immoral contents. Two hundred million people tried to access those sites in a week, when we shut them down," he said.

He stated that currently there were 27 top VPNs in Pakistan, through which the people could watch whatever they wanted. He told the committee that some religious scholars were called to the PTA to seek their help in blocking the websites with unethical material.

The IT ministry official said that the VPN was also regulated in the Gulf countries, Iran, China and Turkey. On that the chair pointed out that now the internet speed had also been affected. The PTA chairman said that there was an issue with the submarine cable in August, but there was no disruption now.

About blocking of internet in parts of Balochistan, the committee was informed that a letter was received from the interior ministry that an operation was going on in the province, therefore, the internet was shut down to avoid security risk.

 

Deadline extended

 

Meanwhile, the PTA decided to give two weeks' time to the users for the registration of the VPN, PTA sources said. The decision had been taken in a review meeting of the PTA to discuss the implementation of the directive of the interior ministry to shut down the unregistered VPN.

The sources said that it was decided in the meeting to extend the deadline for the VPN registration till November 30. After that date, they added, a crackdown would be started against unregistered VPNs from December 1. Moreover, a trial regarding the closure of VPNs has been successfully completed.