ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s newly appointed information minister Attaullah Tarar acknowledged on Monday the popular social networking platform X, formerly known as Twitter, was indeed suspended in Pakistan, after claiming previously it was accessible to online users.
The social media website first went down in Pakistan on February 17, days after the last general elections, following a senior government functionary’s confession of manipulating the electoral contest’s outcome.
The admission came as former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other political parties staged nationwide protests, accusing the election oversight body of rigging the national polls, a claim it denied.
The prolonged disruption of X raised widespread concerns about democratic freedoms in the country, prompting 28 civil society organizations, including Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), to issue a joint statement of condemnation last week.
“When we came into power, Twitter was already banned,” Tarar said during a conversation with We News, a local media outlet. “There was no official notification for it. But obviously, everyone can see that its frequency and signal are not functioning normally, and it is being accessed through VPNs. This is indeed true.”
“I want us to create a [social media] charter on the dos and don’ts, identifying the red lines that should not be crossed,” he continued. “And political parties should formally discuss this. Accusations against women, foul language, indecency and disrespect are common. The sacrifices of martyrs are mocked. So, there is a need to create this charter. I believe it would be good if this charter is established.”
The minister previously said the social media platform was working and people were regularly posting their tweets on it.
“If there is a notification calling for the closure of [X] then you can show it to me,” he was widely quoted as saying. “We can discuss it.”
The disruption of X in Pakistan has also been condemned by the US administration that asked the government in Islamabad to lift restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.