Pakistan’s top cleric has decreed that the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to browse the internet is against Islamic law.
The declaration from the Council of Islamic Ideology was announced on Nov. 18, with chairman Raghib Naeemi saying that the Shariah (Islamic law) allows the government to prevent actions that lead to the “spread of evil.”
The council’s ruling that VPNs, which help internet users evade censorship and monitoring of their internet activity, are “haram,” or forbidden, comes as the Ministry of Interior is seeking to prohibit these services in the country.
Naeemi went on to say that any platform used for posting controversial or blasphemous content, as well as material against Pakistan’s national integrity, “should be stopped immediately.”
According to the council’s website, it is a “constitutional body that advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam, namely to the Qur'an and Sunna.”
The recommendations by the 20-member council are taken seriously by the government but are not legally or constitutionally binding.
Millions of Pakistanis have been using VPNs to access websites blocked by the government, including social media platform X, since February 2023, shortly before the last parliamentary elections.
The regime in Islamabad has stated that it wishes to prohibit VPNs to curb “militancy” in the politically fraught country, but critics say the proposed ban is just another part of Islamabad’s desire to curb freedom of expression.
Although legal in most countries, VPNs have been outlawed in nations with more authoritarian internet regulations and those that carry out more online surveillance and greater censorship.
VPNs have also become a flash point in Pakistan, which is experiencing an internet slowdown that has lasted months.
Officials initially blamed the internet slowdown on the increased use of VPNs, with minister of state for information technology Shaza Fatima saying on Aug. 18 that it “strained the network, causing the internet to go slow,” the BBC reported.
She also dismissed allegations that the government had anything to do with the slowdown as “completely false.”
Islamabad later backtracked and blamed the slowdown on a fault in underwater internet cables.
“The ongoing internet slowdown across the country is mainly due to fault in two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally,” Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority said in a statement on Aug. 28.
One of the major groups using VPNs in Pakistan are supporters of the country’s imprisoned former prime minister, Imran Khan, who have called for a march on Islamabad to pressure the government into releasing the cricketer-turned-politician.
Pakistan often suspends mobile phone service during rallies of Khan’s supporters. But Naeemi’s weekend declaration that the use of VPNs is against Shariah has stunned many.
The Ministry of Interior had written a letter to the Ministry of Information and Technology asking for VPNs to be banned because they are being used by “insurgents to propagate their agenda.”
It said that “VPNs are increasingly being exploited by terrorists to facilitate violent activities.” The ministry also wants to deny access to pornographic and blasphemous content.
Last week, authorities also asked internet users to register VPNs with Pakistan’s media regulator, which will allow the government to increase its online surveillance.
Islamabad is currently battling separatist militants, who have increased their violence in recent months.
On Nov. 15, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacked troops in Kalat, a district in Balochistan Province, triggering an intense shootout resulting in the deaths of seven soldiers and six insurgents, according to the police and the military.
The BLA later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.
