Non-Registered VPNs to Be Blocked After Nov 30: PTA

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced that unregistered Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) will stop working after the November 30 registration deadline.

PTA Chairman, retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman, shared this update during a Senate Standing Committee meeting on IT and Telecom on Monday.

In his briefing, the PTA chairman clarified the difference between commercial VPNs, primarily used by businesses, and non-commercial VPNs, often used by individuals to access blocked content. He explained that PTA is currently only registering commercial VPNs.

Committee members raised concerns about the legal basis for blocking non-commercial VPNs. Senator Afnanullah argued that the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, does not permit the blocking of VPNs in any case. He also questioned the legality of a directive from the Interior Ministry instructing PTA to block VPNs, noting that VPNs do not fall under the definition of social media apps.

The Senate panel has sought input from the Attorney General and the Law Ministry to clarify PTA’s authority in this matter.

During the meeting, Senator Palwasha Khan, who chaired the session, highlighted how frequent internet disruptions are affecting approximately 2.5 million freelancers in Pakistan. Senator Afnanullah criticized PTA and the IT Ministry for these outages, noting the significant financial and emotional toll on users.

Some committee members questioned whether the restrictions on VPNs had political motives, but PTA officials denied these allegations.

The PTA chairman suggested holding an in-camera session to discuss the VPN issue in detail and recommended including the Interior Ministry’s secretary in the discussion.

The meeting ended with a call for clearer legal guidance on the use of VPNs and a resolution to internet connectivity issues.

The PTA has already tested on trial basis to block all the VPNs in Pakistan and the test went successful, it is expected that majority of the freelancers those are working online with clients remotely will face the difficulty once the VPNs gets blocked in Pakistan.

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