The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The suspension of internet and mobile services in Pakistan, attributed to the “security situation” as the country heads to the election, has drawn significant criticism from the majority of political parties and civil society regarding the integrity of the electoral process.
Over 128 million voters were eligible to vote in the general election, with polling stations opening at 8 am.
The election was already viewed as controversial with a series of conviction judgments against former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Imran Khan, ensuring he was disbarred from the election. It is widely believed that Pakistan Muslim League’s (PML-N) former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the frontrunner in the election. He is seen as the current favoured candidate of the military establishment.
As the polling booths opened, Pakistan’s interior ministry enforced the suspension of mobile and internet services nationwide, citing “security concerns”. When questioned by reporters at a polling station, interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar justified the measure within the context of the “wave of terrorism” prevailing in the country.
At the end of the polling day, Kakar claimed that there was “high voter turnout”. “The voices, expressed through the votes, will contribute to the fortification of our democracy, and for that, people of Pakistan deserve every bit of appreciation,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The suspension of mobile and internet services holds considerable importance for Pakistan’s election process as it could potentially affect voter turnout. In Pakistan, voters rely on a text messaging service provided by the Election Commission to ascertain their designated polling station.
Criticising the suspension of mobile services and demanding its immediate revocation, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan noted that it has occurred despite the provincial High Court of Sindh directing uninterrupted internet services to be maintained on voting day.
“With the PTA claiming it has received no instructions from the government to block internet services, there is a worrying lack of transparency about where, when and how long the disruption will continue, thereby affecting voters’ right to information and potentially the transmission of results. Those who gave this order must be identified and held responsible,” it said.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) petitioned the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take cognisance that the disruption of internet services would impact voter turnout.
The party’s Central Election Cell in-charge Senator Taj Haider wrote in a letter to the Chief Justice that the government’s move to suspend mobile phone services on grounds of security concerns was ‘illegal’, as it violated a 2018 court order.
“The closure has also adversely affected reporting and responding to security incidents. One of our workers was shot dead in Mirpurkhas today and it was after an hour that we came to know about the murder,” the letter stated, as reported by Dawn News.
According to media reports, at least nine people, including six security personnel, were killed in violent incidents reported across Pakistan on Thursday.
The letter also claimed that “all political parties, except PML-N, have objected” to the internet disruption. “In spite of our request to ECP to restore services, these services have not restored”.
Earlier in the day, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari demanded, through his X account, that “mobile phone services must be restored immediately across the country”.
The PTI, which continues to have formidable online presence among political parties, claimed that the suspension of mobile and internet services was “an organised conspiracy to deprive the people of their constitutional right to cast their vote”.
“The purpose of shutting down mobile phone services is to prevent evidence of rigging at polling stations from coming to the fore. The nation will not accept such systematic rigging attempts on the day of the polls,” said the PTI spokesman, as reported by The Express Tribune.
It accused the Election Commission of Pakistan of failing to maintain the transparency and credibility of the general election.
The PML-N, which is favoured to win the elections, maintained a conspicuous silence.
In an article on the eve of polling day, Nighat Dad, a Pakistani lawyer, who runs an NGO Digital Rights Foundation, had written that shutdowns would not only stop effective reporting by journalists, but would also “impede key stakeholders, including the Election Commission of Pakistan, national and international election observers, political candidates, and civil society members, from closely monitoring the electoral proceedings”.
Two days earlier, the international NGO Amnesty International had also written an open letter to the Pakistan government to demand that there would be “unfettered access to the internet, social media platforms, and all other communication channels throughout the upcoming general election on February 8, 2024”.
In a strongly-worded statement on Thursday evening, Amnesty described the suspension of mobile services as a “blunt attack on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”. “It is reckless to impede access to information as people head out to polling stations on the heels of devastating bomb blasts and what has been an intense crackdown on the opposition in the lead up to the elections in the country,” it said.
Pakistan’s Chief Election Commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, distanced himself from responsibility regarding the disruption of mobile and internet services, declining to issue any directives. He also claimed that the bulk of voters had accessed polling information through the centralised number, asserting that the electoral body was receiving an average of 1.5 to 2 million messages daily.