Pakistan rights groups on Friday criticised the government for restricting internet access after a global survey showed the country among the 10 lowest-ranking nations in terms of internet freedom. A report by US advocacy group Freedom House - released on Thursday and comprising data on 65 countries - shows Pakistan ranking 10th from the bottom, after it was judged 11th-worst in 2013.
"[The climate] is becoming more intrusive and disturbing as the authorities clamp down on liberal political discourse on the internet by banning sites and accounts that promote progressive debate in the country," Faheem Zafar of the Bytes for All internet freedom group told dpa. He said that initially, only blasphemous material had been removed but that increasingly the accounts of people with alternative political views were being blocked. Nighat Daad of the Digital Rights Foundation, which collaborated with Freedom House on the report, said increased internet censorship could turn a democratic system into a repressive one.
"Pervasive and increased government control on the internet whether in the form of censorship or with new surveillance tactics, is limiting freedom of expression and amplifying self-censorship among the internet users in Pakistan," she said. The report positions neighbouring Iran and China as the world's most repressive countries in terms of internet freedom. Other countries that ranked as the worst-affected included Syria, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Ethiopia.
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