Firewall has to go

The two-pronged strategy of the Ministry of Planning to increase the size of the economy to $1 trillion by 2035, and at the same time keep the statistics buzzing at $500 billion over the next decade, is in a fixation. Tech pundits believe that such goals cannot be achieved until the newly-erected social media firewall is dismantled. The plan also envisages a compound annual growth rate of 9.8% over the next five years by increasing literacy rate to 70% and reducing poverty by 13%.

The ambitious 5Es National Economic Transformation Plan (2024-29) targets the production of 75,000 IT graduates annually, expansion of cellphone users to 192 million, increase in broadband subscriptions to 135 million, creation of over 250 higher education-recognised universities, a 178% increase in IT exports, and the establishment of more than 100 software technology parks.

While the government plans to ensure growth in IT exports, it has a perpetual policy confusion to address. The coalition dispensation having invested more than Rs39 billion to erect a social media firewall, intended at minimising anti-government propaganda in the political context, finds itself at odds in not only luring foreign investors but also meeting growth targets at home.

The plans to achieve $60 billion from IT exports are in thin air as that requires unbridled internet access, which is not there owing to blocking of social media sites such as 'X', slowing down of WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram and regulation of the VPN usage. This has led to a faux pas as this mindless clamping down has bred discontent, necessitating a shift from a security state to a rule-based democratic society.

With the push and pull at work that hampers the mushrooming of a free society, it's an uphill task to see the targets met. A single day slowdown or suspension of the internet costs more than $200 million to the economy in an era when the highest export value of any company is less than $550 million. If Pakistan has to have 100 million next-generation cellphone users on 5G technology, this regime of digital shutdown and firewalls has to go.