Minister of State for Information Technology (IT) Shaza Fatima Khawaja denied on Sunday that the government was behind the internet slowdown, saying that problems occurred “for one or two days” because of the excessive usage of Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Speaking at a press conference, Khawaja explained that when more users went live on the VPN, pressure grew on the internet. “The government realises that people are angry after being affected. However, efforts are being made to ensure that people do not face any more internet problems,” she said.

Internet networks have been up to 40% slower than normal since July, according to one IT association, while documents, images and voice notes have been disrupted on WhatsApp, used by tens of millions of people. Digital rights experts believed the state was testing a firewall that disrupted the services.

At the press conference, Khawaja described as “completely false” allegations that the government was throttling the internet.

She confirmed that the government was upgrading its ‘web management system’ to cope with cybersecurity threats.

“I want to reassure the public that the internet has neither been shut down nor slowed down by the state,” she said. “A large part of the population has begun using VPNs. When you operate on VPN, it creates pressure on live internet, and you see a slowdown,” she added.

Her statement came a day after the business community and internet service providers alleged that the government’s heightened efforts to monitor internet traffic, including a ‘firewall’ – had resulted in a significant nationwide slowdown of services, leading to losses to the economy.

The firewall’s “inexplicable opacity and ambiguity” is sapping Pakistan’s economic potential and could cost its IT sector up to $300 million, according to the Pakistan Software Houses Association, which represents IT firms. Another IT expert said that connectivity had slowed by up to 40% over the past month.

Shahzad Ahmad, head of the independent digital rights watchdog Bytes for All in Pakistan, said the firewall was largely designed to give the government control of the internet. “We believe that the firewall will create distrust among IT investors in Pakistan…”

Paperless government

Khawaja said that her press conference aimed at informing the media about the projects undertaken by her ministry during the five months of the current government. She added that attracting maximum investment in the IT sector was a priority of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Dilating on various IT-related initiatives, the minister of state said that this year, Pakistan’s IT exports reached the highest level, while efforts were afoot to make the federal government paperless as soon as possible. For that, he said, the prime minister had set up the ‘National Digitisation Commission’.

“When we talk about digital payment, it is important to digitise it. The prime minister’s priority is IT, that’s why the budget [of the ministry] has been kept so high,” she said. “We are starting ‘Bridge Start’ programme with Rs1 billion.”

Khawaja said that 250 e-employment centres would be established in the IT City in Islamabad and across the country. I-Parks will be built in Islamabad and Karachi and the one in Islamabad will be completed in March, where 10,000 job opportunities would be created.

The minister of state said that certificates from IT giants, Google and Meta, would be arranged for the children and they would be given the coding skills. She added that the Pakistan Start-Up Fund would be established, three Incubation Centres, including the one exclusively for women, would be build.

(WITH INPUT FROM AFP)