Updated November 25 Raghib Hussain Nayemi, chairman of the Council on Islamic Ideology (CII), denied that the VPN is “un-Islamic” and blamed a “typo” that caused confusion and misunderstanding. He claimed that the word “not” was missing from the initial statement.

The Pakistani government is continuing its crackdown on VPN use, as VPNs must be registered with the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) by November 30. It is unclear how this measure will affect the best VPN providers.

It appears that the only VPNs that can be registered are business VPNs, and personal VPN use is completely prohibited. Registered VPNs will be tracked and monitored by the government, users' privacy rights will be eliminated, and unregistered VPNs will no longer function.

PTA President Retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman said that individuals “should not access unauthorized social media apps or websites through VPNs” and that VPNs used for non-commercial purposes will be blocked.

Permitted to register to use VPNs are companies, banks, and embassies. Individuals are also allowed to use the service, but only freelancers working for these organizations. Since documentation and IP addresses are required upon registration, all registered VPNs may be monitored and tracked, and no privacy is provided to users.

This makes VPNs that randomize IP addresses and protect online privacy virtually impossible to register.

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which advises Congress to align Islamic teachings with the law, has declared that using VPNs to access “immoral” content is “un-Islamic.”

The PTA chairman addressed the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunications, and one senator questioned the PTA's authority to block VPNs for non-commercial use, arguing that VPNs do not fall under the umbrella of social media apps.

VPN use has skyrocketed in Pakistan since the social media app X (Twitter) was banned along with many other sites in February. Pakistan's Ministry of Interior claims that VPNs are being used to circumvent restrictions on pornographic content and are facilitating the violent activities of terrorists.

Social media app Bluesky, seen by many as the successor to X, has been the subject of blocks in recent days. Users have reported difficulty accessing the app, and Internet watchdog group NetBlocks believes the disruption began on November 19-20.

Despite the VPN being declared “un-Islamic” by the CII, government officials are using it to continue accessing the banned App X. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been posting regularly from an authenticated account since February. He tweeted almost daily last week, most recently on November 18, and can only access the app through a VPN.

This move to ban VPNs follows months of crackdowns on VPN use in Pakistan; on November 9 and 10, Pakistanis experienced VPN shutdowns, with many reporting problems with connection and access restrictions. The developers of Proton, one of the most secure VPNs, reported a 350% increase in VPN use in Pakistan that weekend via the Proton VPN Observatory page.

When we spoke to another provider, NordVPN, about this, a spokesperson said: “NordVPN does not have physical servers in Pakistan. We also believe that there is no way for an ISP to record a user's Internet activity while connected to a VPN without additional software installed directly on the user's device. The government's aim seems to be to block VPN access by people who are not registered as VPN users, but this is speculation for now and will only be properly assessed when a law specifying the regime and consequences is implemented.”

How VPN providers will react to these changes is unknown at this stage, but they are not afraid to withdraw from a country if it protects the privacy of their users. In 2022, IPVanish withdrew its servers in India to comply with Indian government data retention regulations.

While it remains to be seen what the outcome of these proposals will be, the escalating government crackdown on people's privacy is a concern.

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