Pakistan’s internet has reportedly slowed to frustratingly sluggish speeds, raising concerns that the government may have implemented a new China-style firewall.
The country's IT minister refuted the accusation made late last week by industry group Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT (P@SHA) that the Pakistani government was putting in place an internet firewall akin to China.
The industry organisation claimed the digital barrier's design was opaque and a "sacrifice" of Pakistan's IT industry "at the altar of misplaced priorities" in a statement denouncing the "hurriedly implemented" national firewall.
They alleged, "The imposition of the firewall has triggered a perfect storm of challenges, with prolonged internet disconnections and erratic VPN performance threatening a complete meltdown of business operations," predicting resultant financial losses of up to $300 million.
That amount would be equivalent to one month's worth of Pakistan's $298 million in IT exports in June.
According to P@SHA, there is a "distrust among global clients" about the purported firewall because they "fear their proprietary data and privacy will be compromised."
"A mass exodus of IT companies is not just a possibility but an imminent reality if immediate and decisive action is not taken," it stated.
Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Pakistan's state minister for information technology, refuted the existence of a national firewall. Khawaja asserted that "the internet has neither been shut down nor slowed down by the state" during a press conference on Sunday.
Rather than taking responsibility for the slow internet, she pointed the finger at reports of a few services or apps not downloading, which made a lot of people start using VPNs and put more strain on servers, which further hampered connectivity.
She stated that the government was attempting to address problems with telcos and ISPs.
These remarks were made a few days after she was said to have admitted that a routine upgrade to the country's web-management system was the cause of the nationwide internet disruption.
