<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s economy could lose up to $300 million due to internet disruptions<\/a> caused by the imposition of a national firewall, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a press release on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n <\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The government is implementing an internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. The government denies the use of the firewall for censorship.<\/p>\n<p>Ali Ihsan, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, said the imposition of the firewall has already caused prolonged internet disconnections and erratic performance of virtual private networks, threatening a \u201ccomplete meltdown of business operations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese disruptions are not mere inconveniences; but, a direct, tangible and aggressive assault on the industry\u2019s viability inflicting an estimated and devastating financial losses estimated to reach $300m, which can further increase exponentially,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja did not immediately respond. Earlier this month, she said that the government did not plan to use firewalls as a form of censorship.<\/p>\n<p>The government has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1844724\">blocked access<\/a> to social media platform X since the February elections in which the PTI won the most seats despite a crackdown and ban on it.<\/p>\n<p>The government has said the blocking was to stop anti-state activities and a failure by X to adhere to local Pakistani laws. Rights activists say the blocking of X is designed to stifle critical voices and democratic accountability in the country.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media sm:w-1\/2 w-full media--right media--embed media--uneven\">\n<p> <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:250px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1850247\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In its statement, P@SHA said that the government\u2019s lack of transparency around the firewall had \u201cignited a firestorm of distrust\u201d among internet users and Pakistan\u2019s global IT clients who fear their proprietary data and privacy will be compromised.<\/p>\n<p>P@SHA demanded an \u201cimmediate and unconditional halt to this digital siege\u201d and called on the government to engage with the industry to develop a cybersecurity framework.<\/p>\n<p>The country recorded $298m in IT exports in June, up 33 per cent from the year before. During the fiscal year that ended in June, IT exports were worth $3.2 billion, up 24pc from $2.5bn in the fiscal year 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The country\u2019s economy could lose up to $300 million due to internet disruptions caused by the imposition of a national firewall, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a press release on Thursday. The government is implementing an internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. The government denies the use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/08\/16000033e7f442e.jpg?r=000303","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The government is implementing an internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. The government denies the use of the firewall for censorship.<\/p>\n<p>Ali Ihsan, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, said the imposition of the firewall has already caused prolonged internet disconnections and erratic performance of virtual private networks, threatening a \u201ccomplete meltdown of business operations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese disruptions are not mere inconveniences; but, a direct, tangible and aggressive assault on the industry\u2019s viability inflicting an estimated and devastating financial losses estimated to reach $300m, which can further increase exponentially,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja did not immediately respond. Earlier this month, she said that the government did not plan to use firewalls as a form of censorship.<\/p>\n<p>The government has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1844724\">blocked access<\/a> to social media platform X since the February elections in which the PTI won the most seats despite a crackdown and ban on it.<\/p>\n<p>The government has said the blocking was to stop anti-state activities and a failure by X to adhere to local Pakistani laws. Rights activists say the blocking of X is designed to stifle critical voices and democratic accountability in the country.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media sm:w-1\/2 w-full media--right media--embed media--uneven\">\n<p> <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:250px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1850247\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In its statement, P@SHA said that the government\u2019s lack of transparency around the firewall had \u201cignited a firestorm of distrust\u201d among internet users and Pakistan\u2019s global IT clients who fear their proprietary data and privacy will be compromised.<\/p>\n<p>P@SHA demanded an \u201cimmediate and unconditional halt to this digital siege\u201d and called on the government to engage with the industry to develop a cybersecurity framework.<\/p>\n<p>The country recorded $298m in IT exports in June, up 33 per cent from the year before. During the fiscal year that ended in June, IT exports were worth $3.2 billion, up 24pc from $2.5bn in the fiscal year 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The country\u2019s economy could lose up to $300 million due to internet disruptions caused by the imposition of a national firewall, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a press release on Thursday. The government is implementing an internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. The government denies the use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/08\/16000033e7f442e.jpg?r=000303","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}