ISLAMABAD: Pakistan experienced nationwide Internet and social media disruptions ahead of a “virtual rally” organized on Saturday by former prime minister Imran Khan’s party, an independent Internet watchdog confirmed, weeks before the upcoming national elections.
The outage of Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube is the second in two weeks coinciding with online campaign events organized by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The event by Khan’s party was due to broadcast PTI speeches by livestream but Internet disruptions began in the early evening, before it began.
“Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across Pakistan, including X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” NetBlocks, a London-based Internet watchdog, said on X.
“The incident comes as persecuted opposition leader Imran Khan’s political party, PTI, launches its second virtual gathering.”
The PTI criticized the caretaker government for the outage on Saturday.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), which regulates internet in the country, said the disruption was caused by a “technical fault.”
“The recent disruption in internet services was caused by a technical fault, which has been promptly rectified,” the PTA said on X. “Internet services have been fully restored nationwide.”
Elections scheduled for February 8 have been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging, with Khan and his party accusing the caretaker government and the military of trying to prevent the PTI from winning a considerable number of seats. The government and the military deny it.
Khan is facing a number of court cases against him and is currently incarcerated in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi after being convicted in a graft case in August. His party has been striving to launch its election campaign in his absence and announced Saturday’s virtual public gathering on X.
Earlier this month, similar Internet disruptions marred the PTI’s online campaign launch event.
