A report released by rights watchdog Amnesty International has suggested that Pakistan is spying on millions of its citizens through a phone-tapping system and a Chinese-built internet firewall that censors
social media, Reuters reported.
The report also stated that Pakistan’s growing monitoring network was built using both Chinese and Western technology, which also powered a sweeping crackdown on dissent and free speech.
Pakistan’s spy agencies can monitor at least 4 million mobile phones at a time through its Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS), while a firewall known as WMS 2.0 that inspects internet traffic can block 2 million active sessions at a time, Amnesty said.
It also claimed that the two monitoring systems function in tandem, one lets intelligence agencies tap calls and texts while the other slows or blocks websites and social media across the country.
The number of phones under surveillance could be higher, as all four major mobile operators have been ordered to connect to LIMS, Reuters quoted Amnesty technologist Jurre van Berge as saying.
“Mass surveillance creates a chilling effect in society, whereby people are deterred from exercising their rights, both online and offline,” the report said.
Amnesty also said its findings draw on a 2024 Islamabad High Court case filed by Bushra Bibi, the wife of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after her private calls were leaked online.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s defence ministries and intelligence agencies, in a court, denied running or even having the capacity for phone tapping, Reuters reported.
According to Amnesty, Pakistan is currently blocking about 650,000 web links and restricting platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and X.
The controls have hit hardest in the insurgency-hit Balochistan province, where districts have faced years-long internet blackouts.
It also claimed it reviewed licensing agreements, trade data, leaked technical files and Chinese records tying the firewall supplier to state-owned firms in Beijing.
It added that the firewall is supplied by the Chinese company Geedge Networks.
Amnesty said the firewall uses equipment from US-based Niagara Networks, software from Thales DIS, a unit of France’s Thales, and servers from a Chinese state IT firm. An earlier version relied on Canada’s Sandvine.
It also said the phone tapping system was made by Germany’s Utimaco and deployed through monitoring centres run by UAE-based Datafusion.
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