A year after ban, X remains limited to ‘official use only’ – Pakistan

LAHORE: As Pakistan marked one year of a ban on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), government officials hinted that the service is unlikely to be restored anytime soon.

However, government departments continue to use the banned platform for official communications — ostensibly via virtual private networks (VPNs) — despite extolling curbs on the same for the general public.

The social media platform, which was used by around 4.5 million people in Pakistan, was blocked in February 2024, around 10 days after the general elections, while the caretaker government was still in power.

As users shared claims on X about alleged widespread rigging in the election, the final blow — leading to the complete shutdown — was a press conference by former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Chattha, who accused Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and the former chief justice of facilitating the rigging.

PML-N leader says ban in place to rein in PTI’s social media prowess; information minister refuses to give timeline for X restoration

A year on, there are no indications that the government is considering lifting the ban on X, a PML-N leader from Punjab told Dawn.

“The lifting of the ban on X is subject to control the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) keyboard warriors’ onslaught against it on social media,” he remarked in a reference to the opposition party’s social media team.

Dawn reached out to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, but he refused to give even a tentative timeframe for the restoration of the social media platform. However, Mr Tarar’s own ministry and their counterparts in various government departments, such as the PM Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs et al continue to post official statements on the banned platform.

Earlier, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari had said the government might consider restoring X if social media rules and regulations are framed.

When asked on Thursday whether the government is considering lifting the ban on X after the framing of new social media rules under the amended Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, she told Dawn the issue was the federal government’s domain.

“However, if the social media rules and regulations start getting implemented, then such problems will be sorted out.”

Meanwhile, a joint statement by civil society organisations, rights advocates, journalists and individuals has called for the immediate restoration of X and urged the government to refrain from taking such arbitrary measures in the future.

The statement said the ban violated Article 19 of the Constitution and undermined Pakistan’s international law commitments.

Tale of the ban

In the weeks following the ban on X, the government and telecom regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), repeatedly denied that the platform had been blocked.

The first admission about the restrictions came in March when the interior ministry informed the Sindh High Court that X was blocked on the reports of intelligence agencies.

In April, the ministry told the Islamabad High Court that X didn’t adhere to the government’s directives to stop the “misuse of its platform”.

The ban was imposed “in the interest of upholding national security, maintaining public order, and preserving the integrity of our nation”.

The government also claimed that X didn’t “respond adequately” to FIA’s requests for blocking accounts involved in defamatory campaigns against former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa and the army chief.

During the year-long suspension, the X management only once made a public comment, when it said it will “continue to work with the Pakistani government to understand their concerns”.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2025