02/09/2024

Pakistan’s Election Day Marred by Violence

Additionally, mobile phone service also was suspended

Pakistan suspended mobile phone services nationwide as voters in the world’s fifth most-populous nation headed to the polls for a tumultuous general election that’s been marred by violence and questions of impropriety.

A statement from the Ministry of Interior posted on X Thursday morning said in Urdu that, in response to “recent incidents of terrorism” in the country, cellular networks had been cut off “to maintain the law and order situation and deal with possible threats.” (More than two dozen people were killed in a pair of bombings on candidates’ offices in the southwestern region of Balochistan on Wednesday; the Islamic State claimed responsibility for those attacks.)

Global online freedom watchdog NetBlocks said it detected internet blackouts in multiple regions across the country and that the disruptions follow "months of digital censorship targeting the political opposition." Human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International described the shutdown as "a blunt attack on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."

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