Pakistan software association urges government to exclude IT businesses from Internet firewall

In this photograph, taken on March 8, 2024, people work at their stations at the Systems Limited, one of Pakistan’s largest software export companies, in Karachi. (AN Photo/File)

• Pakistan might be employing “extreme surveillance technology,” P@sha vice chairman says
• P@SHA warns economy could lose up to $300 million due to Internet disruptions from firewall

ISLAMABAD: A senior official of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@sha) urged the government on Monday to “whitelist” IT businesses and exclude them from a national firewall that authorities are moving to implement to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms.
Internet speeds in Pakistan had dropped by 30-40 percent over the past few weeks, the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP) said last week, as the federal government moves to implement a nationwide firewall to block malicious content, protect government networks from attacks, and allow the government to identify IP addresses associated with what it calls “anti-state propaganda.” IT Minister Shaza Khawaja has repeatedly said the government did not plan to use firewalls as a form of censorship.
Last week, the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) warned that frequent Internet disruptions and low speeds caused by poor implementation of the firewall had led many multinational companies to consider relocating their offices out of Pakistan, with some having “already done so.” The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a press release on Thursday Pakistan’s economy could lose up to $300 million due to Internet disruptions caused by the imposition of the firewall.
“If they consult us, we can tell them to exclude IT businesses from this process and whitelist them,” Senior Vice Chairman P@sha, Ali Ihsan, said in an interview to a local TV channel on Monday. “There is no need for the IT business to go through the firewall since our identification is already tracked against the record.”
“We have a suspicion that the firewall is bypassing the Content Delivery Networks,” he added, referring to a group of geographically distributed servers that speed up the delivery of web content by bringing it closer to where users are.
 “This is why the Internet traffic is choking. Till technical details aren’t discussed with us, we can’t guide them [government] to a solution.”
Ihsan questioned why the government was not consulting with the IT sector on its firewall surveillance plans when P@sha and the IT ministry had been working together for many years.
“When we were in the loop for the past ten years, did anyone even know about the firewall or was there any obstruction?” Ihsan said. “We want to work with the government so that the economy doesn’t get impacted and the system keeps functioning. We have to support the economy and bring back dollars.”
Ihsan said many countries installed firewalls to monitor Internet traffic but “the level of surveillance being carried out differentiates,” adding that the firewalls used by China and the United Arab Emirates were considered “severe” but Pakistan might be employing even more “extreme surveillance technology.”
Pakistan recorded $298 million in IT exports in June, up 33 percent from the year before. During the fiscal year that ended in June, IT exports were worth $3.2 billion, up 24 percent from $2.5 billion in the fiscal year 2023.
Pakistan has already blocked access to social media platform X since the February elections, with the government saying the blocking was to stop anti-state activities and due to a failure by X to adhere to local Pakistani laws. Rights activists say the blocking of X is designed to stifle critical voices and democratic accountability in the country.