The government has the technical capability to block VPNs but will not do so, the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) claimed at an event. The PTA had earlier declared November 30 to be the deadline for VPN registrations, with non-registered VPN connections to be blocked from 01 December. This was overturned and the ban rescinded, after an initial statement that the deadline would be extended, after the Ministry of Law could not give legal cover to the ban. Though the PTA has not provided an official statement as to why the ban was rescinded, media outlets have quoted anonymous sources within the government who pointed towards the legal ambiguities in this regard.

The proposed amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) might help the government in tackling the government’s legal trouble with blocking VPNs in the future.