Hafeezur Rehman, a retired major general of the Pakistan Army who now heads the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) as chairman, said on Tuesday that internet was shut down on the day of general elections in the country due to “security threats”.
Talking to a local news outlet, Rehman said that he came to know about the security threats on the election day (Feb 8) at a meeting at Interior Secretary Aftab Durrani’s office at 5:00am. He said, “We were ordered to shut down the internet [on the day] and we formally tweeted about it as well.”
He said he will raise the issue of the closure of social media platform X with the interior ministry. “Either the matter should be cleared or someone should take responsibility for it. The closure of social media forums is always directed by the interior ministry,” he said.
When asked if any instruction was issued to shut down X in the country, the PTA chairman stated there is just confusion for now. “I have asked my staff that my internet is working even though I do not have a VPN,” he said.
He said the PTA had not received any written order from the interior ministry for the closure of X. Commenting on Information Minister Attaullah Tarar’s admission about disruption of X services by the caretaker government, Rehman stated that Tarar should be questioned if he has any information about the X closure.
