Pakistan Turns Off Mobile Phone Networks on Election Day

Pakistan – Pakistan has turned off mobile phone networks nationwide on election day, in a move a digital rights group said was “inherently undemocratic”.

"The precious lives have been lost in recent armed attacks and such security measures are essential to maintain the law and order situation and to deal with potential threats," said the Ministry of Interior on Thursday as reported from Aljazeera site.  

One police officer was killed on Thursday when gunmen opened fire on a patrol vehicle in the northwestern area of Tank, local media reports said.

At least 28 people were killed in twin bomb blasts outside candidates’ offices in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Wednesday in attacks claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) group, and two candidates have been shot dead in the lead-up to the vote.

NetBlocks, a global internet watchdog, said data confirmed there was a disruption to mobile phone and internet services “corroborating widespread user reports of outages”.

“The ongoing election day internet blackout in Pakistan is amongst the largest we have observed in any country in terms of severity and extent,” NetBlocks director Alp Toker stated. 

“The practice is inherently undemocratic and is known to limit the work of independent election observers and cause irregularities in the voting process.”

The suspension of mobile services also follows a call by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan to his supporters to wait outside polling booths after voting until results are announced.

Last year, Khan’s supporters ransacked several government buildings and clashed with troops as they tried to prevent his arrest.

Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from Lahore, said the suspension of internet and mobile networks is an issue for local election observers who have to go to different polling stations and need to communicate with other observers.

“But the suspension of internet services is also an issue for people who are voting. It is affecting people who are using apps and websites to see who they will be voting for, and what their election symbol is,” he said.

“And the party that is going to be most affected by this is the PTI because it has relied heavily on social media,” he said, referring to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Thursday’s election has already been marred by allegations of pre-vote rigging, and pollsters have predicted a low turnout following Khan’s imprisonment and the crackdown on his PTI.