ISLAMABAD – Embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is facing hard times ahead of elections and in a recent development, the party’s official website ‘Insaf. pk’ has been blocked in Pakistan.
Less than two weeks before the country holds its next general elections, Imran Khan’s party expressed concerns, calling out incumbent authorities to explain why its site had been blocked.
As Pakistanis were not able to visit Insaf.pk, PTI alleged that the official website was blocked by federal authorities.
Imran Khan’s party after losing its electoral symbol ‘bat’ for the upcoming elections, now entering poll as independent candidates with lesser known electoral symbols.
After the symbol blow, PTI’s website got blocked and is only accessible using a VPN.
PTI also took to Twitter and called out interim information minister Murtaza Solangi and IT minister Umar Saif, and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Dear @umarsaif, can you tell Pakistanis why the websites of country’s most popular political party is blocked by you?
You will not be in this position forever. Don’t act like God for your own sake. #RiggingAgainstPTI #PakistanUnderFascism
cc @TheEconomist @hrw @_FAFEN @Anfrel… pic.twitter.com/BCf70w8VZz
— Jibran Ilyas (@agentjay2009) January 25, 2024
The party’s official handle asked government members to explain why its websites are blocked in Pakistan.
Ahead of elections, Pakistan witnessed countrywide internet disruptions concurrently with PTI’s virtual rallies. Social sites were not accessible on December 17, 2023 and January 7, 2024.
The government, on the other hand, cited technical issues, for the disruptions. PTA chief linked the outages to glitches and system upgrades.
Social media giants Facebook, Twitter go down in Pakistan amid PTI’s virtual rally