KARACHI (Daily Point) — The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued an order directing the relevant authorities to ensure continuous internet access for all citizens until the general elections on February 8.

In response to a petition filed by advocate and human rights activist Jibran Nasir, the high court, on Wednesday, prohibited the authorities from suspending internet services and mandated them to submit their response by January 29.

As the political campaigning intensifies leading up to next month’s elections, users have encountered multiple internet outages in recent days. The disruption of social media platforms, including Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube, marked the second occurrence in two weeks on January 20.

Following a prolonged disruption last week, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) attributed the nationwide internet outage to a “technical fault” in its optic fiber network. The PTA reassured on its official X account, stating, “The recent disruption in internet services was caused by a technical fault, which has been promptly rectified. Internet services have been fully restored nationwide.” According to downdetector.pk, Google services and internet service provider PTCL also faced disruptions.

A report highlights a deterioration in the relationship between the state and media freedoms over the past two years, marked by increased instances of censorship, violence against journalists, and government disregard for critical media.

Titled “Under Siege: Legislative, Judicial and Executive Actions Stifling Freedom of Expression and Right to Information,” the report was published by the Institute of Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA) as part of its annual state of digital journalism series.

During the review period, the PTA blocked 1.1 million URLs, including 187 mobile applications. Among the blocked or removed URLs and content, around 200,000 were alleged to be related to contempt of court, against the defense of Pakistan or glory of Islam, defamatory, and sectarian/hate speech content, according to the report.

The report also reveals a substantial number of content removal requests from the Pakistani government to major tech platforms, including Google, Meta, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). For instance, between January 2021 to June 2022, Meta restricted access in Pakistan to 12,001 items reported by the PTA for allegedly violating local laws, as per the report.