Mass surveillance in Pakistan
/On July 3, 2025, in our article entitled “India-Pakistan: The Reality of the May 2025 Confrontation”*, we drew our readers’ attention to two major facts:
Civil influence in Pakistan has weakened further since General Asim Munir took control of the Armed Forces in 2022: an authoritarian figure who previously headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The rapprochement between part of the Pakistani Army and Islamic terrorism could lead to radicalization during a future confrontation with India, thus increasing the nuclear risk.
A Farce of Justice
In this context, Marco Rubio’s tweet** of September 16, 2025, as US Secretary of State caught our attention. Quoting a Pakistani court ruling, Marco Rubio informed us of “a real court decision concerning Khadija Shah, an American-Pakistani citizen. The military junta sentenced her to five years in prison because leaders and supporters of the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) had ‘liked’ her posts on Instagram and TikTok.”
It should be noted that the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) is the party of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was imprisoned for 14 years on May 9, 2023, on corruption charges that strongly resemble a political vendetta. His supporters claim that his downfall is another example of Pakistani generals interfering in politics to impose their candidate, Shehbaz Sharif.
According to “The Telegraph” of September 2, 2025, Imran Khan’s detention conditions are inhumane, with his supporters stating that the 72-year-old is suffering “psychological torture” in prison. (pictured: demonstration by supporters of the PTI)
In this general context, how can one fail to be struck by another article in The Telegraph newspaper dated September 15, 2025***, titled: "The Commonwealth allegedly helped cover up election fraud in Pakistan!"
The article continues: "A leaked report reveals that the military regime 'stole' the victory from Imran Khan's PTI party in the 2024 elections, through fraud and manipulation of the electoral process.... The Commonwealth is accused of collaborating with the army-backed Pakistani government to cover up widespread election fraud.... This Commonwealth report, which had been censored until now, actually revealed widespread election fraud and accused the government of violating fundamental political rights, including freedom of association, assembly, and expression. The army-backed regime had restricted the campaigning activities of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party... and influenced the outcome in favor of the current Pakistani government.... Observers noted several inconsistencies between the voting records and the overall results by constituency..."
Mass Surveillance
In light of these revelations by The Telegraph, how can one then fail to take seriously the Amnesty International report****, entitled "Shadows of Control" and published on September 9, 2025, which states that "The web surveillance system and the legal interception management system in Pakistan function as instruments of total control, constantly spying on the lives of citizens".
“In Pakistan, SMS messages, emails, phone calls, and internet access are all monitored—allowing the military and the ISI intelligence service to access users' data…”
Amnesty International's investigation, conducted with the support of various media outlets and groups, reveals how Pakistani authorities obtained technology from foreign companies through a clandestine global supply chain of sophisticated surveillance and censorship tools, including a new firewall (the Web Monitoring System 2.0 [WMS 2.0]) and a Legal Interception Management System (LIMS). “LIMS and WMS 2.0 are funded with public money, use foreign technology, and are used to suppress dissent, which constitutes a serious human rights violation in Pakistan… The authorities are purchasing increasingly sophisticated surveillance and censorship tools from foreign companies. These technologies enhance the government's ability to repress dissent, particularly against journalists, civil society, and the general public.”
It should be noted that Pakistan is the sixth largest cotton producer in the world and possesses abundant natural resources, primarily copper, oil, and gas.
Furthermore, it is worth recalling that since 1976, China has provided Pakistan with the means to develop nuclear weapons.
As “Les Echos” also pointed out, "Saudi Arabia, China, and the United Arab Emirates collectively provided $12 billion to Pakistan in 2024."
Was this to finance the mass surveillance of its population?
"For the first time in the history of foreign observation of Pakistani democracy, the Commonwealth and the European Union have censored their own reports on the massive fraud during the 2024 elections, perpetrated by Pakistan's authoritarian military regime," wrote Imran Khan's PTI party on X.
So why this excessive leniency towards this regime?
**https://x.com/pakistanwalli/status/1967974023062753289?s=48
Photo credit AFP
