- Islamabad is imposing a firewall to monitor and regulate digital content and social media platforms
- However, this move can lead to internet disruptions which in turn will hurt many industries, especially the IT industry.
- The effect of such disrupts will be devastating on the country’s economy.
Pakistan’s new internet firewall can cost its economy a whopping $300 million, said the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) in a press release on Thursday.
According to reports by local media outlets, Islamabad has decided to impose a firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. However, the government denied using firewalls as a form of censorship. The same thing was said by Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information Technology, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, last month.
However, the reason for installing a firewall doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is its consequences.
- As per Ali Ihsan, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, the firewall has already started causing internet disconnections and VPN disruptions.
- He further added that these internet connections are not just an inconvenience. It’s a “direct, tangible, and aggressive assault on the industry’s viability”.
If things continue like this, soon Pakistan will witness a complete breakdown of business operations. This in turn will lead to devastating economic losses that can reach up to $300 million or even more.
Neither Pakistan’s telecommunication authority nor Khawaja commented on this prediction. The P@SHA is unhappy about the government’s silence over this matter.
It said that this lack of transparency is further igniting distrust of the government among people and Pakistan’s global IT clients who are worried that their private data might be compromised if the government intercepts every activity.
Importance of the IT industry in Pakistan
The IT industry is critical to Pakistan’s economy.
- In June, IT export revenue was recorded at $298 million, 33% more than the previous year.
- In the fiscal year that ended in June, the total revenue from IT exports was $3.2 billion.
Clearly, Pakistan cannot afford to lose its global IT clients.
The P@SHA is also demanding a halt on this initiative and has instead urged the authorities to collaborate with industry experts to design a cybersecurity framework that serves their purpose without stifling the digital freedom of users.
Pakistan’s History of Censorship?
Even if Pakistani authorities say that they are not trying to use the firewall to censor internet activity, its track record says otherwise.
For example, in February the country blocked access to social media platform X after protests broke out over jailed former prime minister Imran Khan winning majority despite his party being banned.
Back then, authorities had said that the blocking was necessary to control anti-state activities. Plus, it also said that X failed to comply with the local laws.
However, rights activists say that the ban was a way to prevent the critics of the government from voicing their opinions.
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