On 21st November 2024, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) hosted a consultation session in Islamabad to discuss improvements in VPN registration processes. Attendees included representatives from the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), PASHA, PAFLA, MoIT, MoFA, and the State Bank of Pakistan. The session focused on facilitating legitimate VPN users, such as software houses, BPO firms, banks, embassies, and freelancers, while ensuring data security and uninterrupted internet access. Stakeholders explored mechanisms to streamline VPN registration processes to support business continuity and secure online services.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), in partnership with TikTok, hosted the Youth Safety Summit in Islamabad on November 21, 2024, to promote online safety and digital literacy among Pakistan’s youth. Key speakers included Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja, PTA Chairman Major General (R) Hafeezur Rehman, and TikTok’s Emir Gelen, all emphasizing the importance of collaboration and initiatives like TikTok's Family Pairing and Youth Safety Portal. The event concluded with the announcement of #DigitalHifazat Contest winners and plans to expand the initiative nationwide to enhance online safety.

The federal government has decided to partially suspend internet and mobile services in Islamabad , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab amid the opposition party PTI’s planned protest for 24 November. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will activate its firewall for mobile internet service from November 22 and the aforesaid services will be suspended from November 23, added the sources.

The services will likely remain suspended unless PTI either calls off its protest or make it shorter. PTI has hinted at turning its protest into indefinite sit-in unless its incarcerated leader former PM Imran Khan was released.

On 19th November, the social media app bluesky was temporarily banned in Pakistan. Users reported that they were unable to access it without a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Bluesky offered similar features as X, allowing users to have access to another platform without having to use a VPN. There has been a worldwide shift from X, and an increase in bluesky users, after the nomination of Elon Musk, the owner of X, in the cabinet of the US president-elect, Donald Trump.  Many Pakistanis have recently signed up to bluesky. 

The recent suspension of the platform came a week after authorities decided to ban all unregistered VPN’s, which had also gained considerable popularity in recent months after the PTA banned X on the 17th of February, following the general elections. 

In what seems to be an attempt to retract its statement made earlier, Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi denied declaring the virtual private networks (VPNs) "un-Islamic" and blamed it on a "typo" for causing confusion in the council's decree amid the government's deadline to block all unregistered encrypted networks this month.

"No one has declared the VPNs against shariah or un-Islamic," said Naeemi in a press conference in Islamabad, adding: "A typing error in our previous statement created a misunderstanding after 'not' was omitted from it."

CII has come under a lot of criticism for its recent edict on VPNs. Senate Standing Committee called it “unreasonable” while renowned religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil termed it as a “narrow-minded stance”.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has partially suspended internet and mobile services since 15 November in several districts of Balochistan province to “ensure public safety and security”. While PTA did not specify the areas, these services reportedly remain suspended in various areas of Makran, Awaran, Chagai, Kharan, parts of Khuzdar, Kalat, Bolan, Harnai, Duki and some other areas which witnessed rising acts of terrorism in recent weeks.

The Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell summoned owners of two web platforms, Siyasat.pk and Raftar for allegedly “running continuous anti-state propaganda” on their platforms. Adeel Habib, the owner of Siyasat.pk, and Farhan Gauhar Mallick, the owner of Raftar, who reside in Karachi and Canada respectively, have been summoned to appear on November 20.

Owing to a serious data breach (in March) compromising the information of 2.7 million Pakistani citizens, six NADRA officials, including one grade-19 officer, were recently dismissed, according to the NADRA Chairman in a recent National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior meeting. However, members of the Standing Committee expressed frustration over zero repercussions for key officials involved in the leak and were contrarily even promoted in some cases. During the meeting, NADRA Chairman Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz highlighted budget constraints faced by the agency in light of its expansion plans especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and investments in new vehicles and equipment. 87% of NADRA’s Rs. 57 billion budget is allocated to salaries, which leaves little to spend on expansion and innovation.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reportedly decided to block access to all the unregistered VPNs from 01 December. All the commercial entities, embassies have been asked to register their VPNs with PTA by 30 November. PTA has been pushing all to register their VPNs and occasionally dropped hints at banning unregistered VPNs without clarifying timelines. However, the decision to block VPNs came following its successful trial run of blocking them on 10 November using much talked about firewall. Since its trial run, government authorities seem to busy with building a narrative to justify the VPN regulation. PTA recently claimed that 20 million attempts were made recently to access pornographic websites via VPN. Interior Ministry also sought ban on VPNs citing their use by terrorist organisations.

In a briefing to the Senate, Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi revealed that FIA’s Cybercrime Wing (CCW) received 1,426 complaints related to hacked whatsapp accounts since July 1. Following these complaints, 549 hacked accounts were successfully restored from the registered complaints, while the CCW was currently processing a further 877 complaints, with 20 cases escalated to formal inquiries. Furthermore, Naqvi said 40 complaints remained unanswered and 817 were still in the verification stage.