Pakistan's Decades-Long Surveillance Transforms To State-Controlled Censorship: Report

(MENAFN- IANS) Islamabad, Jan 17 (IANS) Pakistan's surveillance regime has evolved over the last two decades, from fragmented partnerships into a unified, state‐controlled censorship and monitoring system, including metadata harvesting, device intrusion, Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) filtering and national-level internet control, a report stated on Saturday.

It added that since 2024, infrastructural, legal, and policy changes have fundamentally altered the internet experience in Pakistan.

“Pakistan's surveillance trajectory shows a steady escalation from early mass‐monitoring to a sophisticated, multi‐layered digital control regime. A 2013 report by Citizen Lab revealed the presence of command-and-control servers for FinFisher, a commercial network intrusion malware capable of intercepting communications, accessing private data, and recording audio and video from computers or mobile devices in Pakistan. The server was employed on a network owned by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), a now-privatised state-owned entity, with 62 per cent government shareholding,” a report in European Times detailed.

According to the report, Pakistan tested a national internet 'firewall' in 2024, leveraging Chinese technology, to bolster the government's web monitoring capabilities and control over popular platforms, enabling selective blocking of features on apps or websites. The system, it said, was deployed at the country's key internet gateways and the data centres of mobile operators and major internet service providers, sparking multiple complaints of poor internet connectivity.

“Mere months after the controversial February 2024 general election, all telecom operators were mandated by the regulator to install what is known as the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS), giving intel agencies instant access to citizens' call logs, private messages, browsing history and much more. The Lawful Intercept Management System is yet another surveillance mechanism employed by the Pakistani state, and can be used to retrieve the unencrypted data of any consumer, eavesdrop on their calls, and read text messages,” the report mentioned.

“The Audio Leaks Case before the Islamabad High Court exposed how the state has been conducting mass, warrantless surveillance through LIMS. Testimony revealed that agencies could tap into telecom networks with a single click, using SIM, IMEI, or phone numbers to automatically pull SMS records, call data, metadata, and even full content streams, audio, video, and search histories into central monitoring centres,” it further stated.

In its latest report, global democracy watchdog Freedom House ranked Pakistan 27th out of 100, classifying it as 'Not Free' in terms of internet freedom, citing government actions to expand censorship practices.

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