Skip to main content

Internet Disruptions Hit Imran Khan Party Broadcast, 2nd Time In 2 Weeks

Pakistan's social media and internet services were severely throttled Saturday night, as the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan held a "virtual rally" ahead of elections in under three weeks.

The outage of Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube is the second in two weeks coinciding with online campaign events organised by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Elections scheduled for February 8 have been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging, with analysts saying the military establishment -- Pakistan's political kingmakers -- are squeezing Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf out of the race.

The event was due to broadcast Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf speeches by livestream but internet disruptions began in the early evening, before it began.

"We can confirm the nation-scale restriction of social media platforms across Pakistan," said Alp Toker, Director of the Netblocks watchdog organisation monitoring cybersecurity and internet governance.

He told AFP the outage was "remarkably systematic" and "consistent with previous restrictions imposed during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf events".

Imran Khan and many prominent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates have been barred from standing for election, and in-person campaigning has been thwarted by a crackdown forcing party leaders to defect or go underground.

Nonetheless, a Gallup Pakistan survey taken in December confirmed Imran Khan is the nation's most popular politician.

Google data shows Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vastly outstripping competitors in online searches for political parties in Pakistan, with 80 percent of the traffic.

Earlier this month, a similar internet disruption marred Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's online campaign launch event.

Keyboard campaigning 

Imran Khan, 71, was ousted in 2022 after falling out with Pakistan's powerful military leaders who backed him into power in 2018.

In opposition, he waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the military establishment which has directly ruled the nation for much of its history.

Imran Khan accused them of engineering his removal from office in a no-confidence vote via a US-backed conspiracy, and of plotting an assassination attempt that saw him wounded.

The crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf began after Imran Khan's brief arrest last May sparked riots, with Islamabad saying it had been targeted by "anti-state" violence.

Imran Khan is currently languishing in jail after a second arrest in August, and has been barred from standing for office over a graft conviction.

He says the avalanche of legal cases burying him have been triggered by the military establishment to prevent him from leading Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf back to power.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf -- credited with running a tech-savvy campaign in 2018 -- has attempted to mobilise on social media to circumvent the restrictions.

As Imran Khan grapples with the courts, three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif has returned from self-imposed exile and seen his corruption cases dissolve -- a sign analysts say he is the army's favoured candidate.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/CwDJ2da

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Lanka Must Achieve Debt Restructuring By September: IMF

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday reaffirmed that Sri Lanka must achieve its debt restructuring process by September, which is also the time for the global lender's formal review of the bailout facility it extended to the cash-strapped nation. On March 20, IMF extended a nearly $3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka that would help stabilise the country's economy after it was jolted by a devastating economic crisis last year. In a statement issued on Tuesday at the end of a nearly two weeks staff visit to Colombo to assess the progress made by Sri Lanka since the agreement was reached, the IMF said the two sides had discussed the developments on debt restructuring. "Sri Lanka must achieve debt restructuring by its first review due in September. We also discussed progress on debt restructuring, noting the ongoing discussions with both foreign and domestic creditors," the statement read. Sri Lanka is still struggling to normalise its crisis-hi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Biden Warns "All Out War" Possible In Middle East

US President Joe Biden warned Wednesday of the possibility of an "all-out war" in the Middle East but said he was hopeful a settlement was still achievable for the conflict-torn region. Biden's comments as he appeared on ABC chat show "The View" came as Israel put troops on alert for possible entry into Lebanon and the war in Gaza grinds on. "An all-out war is possible," Biden said when asked about the situation. "What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region." Biden appeared to raise the possibility of a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli strikes targeting the Hezbollah militia have killed more than 600 people this week. "They have a possibility -- I don't want to exaggerate it -- there's a possibility if we can deal with a ceasefire in Lebanon that it can move into dealing with the West Bank as well," said Biden. Israel has been carrying ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Amazon Rainforest Tribe's Secret To Healthy Life And Slow Ageing Revealed

Deep in the Amazon rainforest, a semi-nomadic indigenous community is thriving. This community defies conventional norms on ageing and health. The Tsimanes, consisting of 16,000 people, live a fully subsistence lifestyle, relying on hunting, foraging and farming to survive. Scientists have been studying this unique group for two decades, and have uncovered remarkable findings till now. Martina Canchi Nate, an 84-year-old Tsimanes woman, digs up yucca trees, cuts down plantain trees and carries heavy loads with ease, faster than her younger companions, as per a BBC report. This level of physical activity is not unusual among Tsimanes of her age. Researchers have discovered that this group has the healthiest arteries ever studied and brains that age more slowly than those in North America, Europe and elsewhere. The Tsimanes' secret lies in their active lifestyle, with an average of 16,000 to 17,000 steps per day. They spend less than 10 percent of daylight hours in sedentary activ...
Post a Comment
Read more