It is interesting to note that federal information minister has claimed that the interne in Pakistan is ‘’much better and cheaper’’ as compared to several other countries in the world.
Really? He has, in fact, tried to dismiss, albeit unsuccessfully, a recent report that internet outages in the country had caused massive financial losses last year.
The country, according to Top10VPN.com, pointed out that Pakistan led the world in terms of financial losses suffered as a result of outages and shutdowns of internet and social media apps in 2024, with a cumulative financial impact of $1.62bn.
A year earlier (2023), it was India that led the world in internet shutdowns with 116 incidents that year, sparking global condemnation for civil rights violations.
Pakistan, too, seems to have attracted a similar censure from the world community. Be that as it may, both India and Pakistan have been found to be extremely good at masking domestic turmoil through internet blackouts.
However, unlike India’s economy, which is one of the top economies in the world, Pakistan’s has been paying a huge price it does not deserve to pay. Instead of meekly defending its approach to internet, it is about time the government revisited its policy without any further loss of time.
Munir Husain (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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