Pakistan is in turmoil over the demand for the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Students are protesting across the country. However, in this ongoing movement, the government has been accused of slowing down the internet speed. Students claim that such efforts are being made to obstruct their movement activities.

However, the country's state minister for information technology, Fatima Khawaja, has claimed that the government has no role to play in the slowness of the internet.
He said that internet speed has decreased due to excessive use of VPN. The state minister made this statement in a press conference on August 18.

In a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, he said that the internet was not stopped or the speed was not deliberately slowed down. Internet speed has decreased due to increased use of VPN.

Fatima Khawaja claims that when the government blocks certain apps, people start using VPN. It bypasses local internet services and slows down the speed. He claimed that using VPN also reduces the speed of mobile internet.

The state minister assured that the government is working to solve this problem and improve internet services in Pakistan.

According to Geo News, the Pakistan Internet issues are related to the implementation of a firewall. It is installed at a country's main Internet gateway to monitor and filter traffic.

By using this firewall, the government can control or block the content of any websites and social media platforms. The technology also has the ability to track down the source of any objectionable content, authorities claim.

Note that the Pakistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (PTA) has reportedly decided to introduce a new policy to regulate the use of VPNs across the country.

The use of VPN in Pakistan has increased manifold this year. Basically, the social media platform X was blocked before the elections, and the use of VPNs increased in the country. According to Top10VPN, two days after X was blocked, the demand for VPNs in Pakistan increased by 131 percent on February 19.