ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to Egypt from Dec. 18-20 to participate in the Eleventh Summit of the Developing Eight (D-8) countries being held in Cairo, the foreign office said on Monday. 

The D-8 Summit is a gathering of leaders from eight developing countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkiye. It aims to promote economic cooperation and development among member states, with a focus on areas like trade, energy, agriculture, and transportation.

Preceding the Cairo Summit, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will attend the 21st Session of the D-8 Council of Ministers on Dec. 18. 

The theme of this year’s D-8 Summit is “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy.”

“At the Summit, the Prime Minister will underline the importance of investing in youth and SMEs for building a strong and inclusive economy; creating jobs; advancing innovation; and promoting local entrepreneurship,” the foreign office said.

“He will express Pakistan’s strong commitment to the ideals of D-8; underscore the importance of fostering partnerships for mutual benefit and prosperity; and promoting cooperation in agriculture, food security and tourism. He will also underline Pakistan’s incentives for youth empowerment and financial development.”

The Prime Minister of Pakistan will also attend a special session on the humanitarian crisis and reconstruction challenges in Gaza and Lebanon following Israel military offensives in the Middle East since October last year. 

“He will underline Pakistan’s principled position on the situation in Palestine and call for peace in the Middle East,” the foreign office said. “On the sidelines of the Summit, the Prime Minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with participating leaders.”

Health officials in the Gaza Strip said on Monday the death toll from the 14-month war between Israel and Hamas had topped 45,000 people. 

The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Monday no Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) had been blocked in the country and neither had a deadline been finalized for such an action, adding that over 31,000 VPNs had officially registered with the authority in recent weeks. 

The government has been cracking down on VPN use for weeks, with the PTA announcing that businesses and freelancers would be able to legally use VPNs by registering with the government, but unregistered VPNs would be blocked in Pakistan after Nov. 30. The deadline was later withdrawn, and a new one has not been announced. 

Authorities say the measures are meant to deter militants and other suspects who use VPNs to conceal their identities and spread “anti-state propaganda” and promote “blasphemous” or other illegal content online. The government is also moving to implement a nationwide firewall to block malicious content, protect government networks from attacks, and allow the government to identify IP addresses associated with what it calls “anti-state propaganda” and terror attacks.

Digital rights activists, however, say the government’s move against VPNs is an attempt to block vital tools that allow users to bypass restrictions amid a wave of digital crackdowns. The use of VPNs has sharply risen in Pakistan since February this year when the government banned X soon after allegations of rigging in general elections surfaced. The election commission denies them. 

“No VPN has been blocked in the country so far,” PTA Chairman Major General (R) Hafeez Ur Rehman told Arab News on the sidelines of an event marking the launch of the authority’s annual performance report.

“No deadline has been set so far to block VPNs and we are working with the government to develop a solution that minimizes inconvenience to the public but nothing has been finalized yet,” he added, saying over 31,000 VPNs had been registered with the authority so far.

Rehman said the PTA had set up a dedicated help desk for IT companies and freelancers to facilitate VPN registration and other matters. All registration applications were processed within eight hours. 

“When Internet shutdowns occur, they can approach us to get whitelisted, ensuring that their connectivity remains unaffected,” Rehman said. 

“Once whitelisted, their Internet will continue to function even during government-imposed closures due to security threats or other reasons. This helps ensure that any closure of Internet due to national security measures do not disrupt their business operations as their Internet will keep working.”

Regarding frequent Internet closures, the official said the question should be addressed to the government as the PTA was implementing official orders. 

In August, the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) warned that frequent Internet disruptions and low speeds caused by poor implementation of the national firewall had led many multinational companies to consider relocating their offices out of Pakistan, with some having “already done so.” 

The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), the country’s top representative body for the IT sector, warned last month Internet slowdowns and the restriction of VPN services could lead to financial losses and closures and increase operational costs for the industry by up to $150 million annually.

Pakistan’s IT and ITeS exports have been growing at an average of 30 percent per year, and are on the way to achieve over $15 billion in the next 5 years, according to industry data, provided the government ensures continuity in export, fiscal, financial, SME, infrastructure and IT policies, P@SHA says.