Services of the microblogging platform Twitter continued to remain disrupted in Pakistan for the third consecutive day on Monday. According to internet monitoring website Downdetector, people started reporting issues with accessing Twitter from around 10:30AM which persisted until noon.
While the services were temporarily restored around 12:24PM, disruptions were again reported after 1PM. Downdetector showed outages being reported from major urban centres across Pakistan such as Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Gujranwala.
Netblocks, an organization that tracks internet outages, has also confirmed that Twitter remains restricted in Pakistan for the third day running amid ongoing controversies related to last month’s general elections. Some users reported being able to access Twitter only via VPN applications.
The disruptions coincide with allegations of vote rigging and manipulation during the February 8 polls. Last week, a senior election official held a press conference where he levelled serious charges against the Election Commission of Pakistan and judiciary regarding the handling of the elections.
Digital rights activists have criticised the blanket ban on Twitter calling it a violation of fundamental online rights. They said such restrictions promote disinformation at a time when political tensions are already high in the country. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also expressed concerns saying internet shutdowns hurt businesses and freedom of expression.
However, the regulator Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has refused to comment on the matter while the interior ministry is yet to clarify the reasons behind blocking access to the microblogging site for the entire nation. The continued curb on Twitter even after three days shows no sign of being lifted soon amid the ongoing political uncertainty in Pakistan.
