Pakistan is becoming an anti-internet country. September last year, it blocked access to Google’s YouTube after it objected to taking down an anti-Islam film.
Today,Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has said it will block access to all internet communication networks including Skype, Viber, Tango and WhatsApp for three months as a means to fight terrorism.
Sindh’s Information Minister Sharjeel Memon told AFP: “We regret the inconvenience to users but we are compelled to ban those networks for three months in the province.”
According to him Skype, WhatsApp, Tango and Viber will be blocked over serious “security reasons as such online applications were frequently being used by “terrorists and other criminal elements”.
Karachi, Pakistan’s capital city and the financial hub has had numerous targeted murders and extortions and securoty officers have tried to reign on on the menace unsuccessfully. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the states Internet regulatory body will block the networks in Sindh for three months according to media reports.