The Pakistani government has made a U-turn and will no longer pursue a ban on VPNs. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) initially stated that all commercial VPNs should be registered by November 30, and that unregistered and personal VPNs would be banned and no longer functional after this date.

It is unclear how this ban will affect the best VPN services, but at the time of this writing there have been no reports of disruption.

However, the ban request will reportedly be withdrawn later this month. The Ministry of Justice has reportedly stated that the government has no legal standing to block VPNs and that VPNs will continue to function.

Previously, the government had requested the ban on the grounds of access to “immoral” and “illegal” content and use by “terrorists” to “facilitate violent activities”; VPNs were also deemed “un-Islamic,” which was later claimed to be the result of a typo.

As reported by Dawn, this legal issue stems from a different interpretation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016. The government had attempted to use a provision of the Act to justify the ban. The Ministry of Justice, however, stated that the provision only permits blocking with respect to “content” and not “tools.”

VPNs are considered tools and fall into the same category as devices such as cell phones and laptops. The government's argument is seen as weak, and the use and functionality of VPNs in Pakistan will continue.

The past few weeks have seen something of a merry-go-round of information emanating from Pakistan. Pakistan experienced a VPN shutdown on November 9-10, and many users had difficulty connecting to certain VPNs.

That weekend, the Proton VPN Observatory reported a 350% increase in VPN sign-ups in Pakistan.

Authorities claimed the shutdown was due to a “glitch,” but the ban request came shortly thereafter.

The government then moved to restrict VPN use, announcing that all VPNs must be registered by November 30 and all unregistered VPNs would be blocked. VPNs for personal use were not included, and only VPNs for commercial use were allowed to register. All registered VPNs could be tracked and monitored, which is directly contrary to the primary use of consumer VPNs and does not provide privacy to individual users.

VPNs have not been the only app targeted in recent months; X (formerly Twitter) was banned in February, but government ministers, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, continue to use it regularly. At the time of this writing, Prime Minister Sharif's last tweet was on December 2; since X can only be accessed in Pakistan via VPN, government ministers are directly ignoring their own country's laws and recommendations.

Bluesky, seen by many as X's successor, was also blocked, with users reporting problems overnight on November 19-20. The block appears to have been temporary, but it is unconfirmed whether access to Bluesky has returned.

Messaging application WhatsApp was hit next, with users reporting connection problems from November 23-25. Since then, WhatsApp has continued to be affected by outages, with Downdetector data showing a spike in reports on December 1.

Although the VPN ban appears to have been withdrawn, there are still concerns when assessing Pakistan's Internet and online freedoms.

The Pakistani government has reportedly introduced Chinese technology to build a new, national Internet “firewall” that will allow authorities to monitor online traffic and control the use of popular apps better than before.

Firewalls allow for blocking or restricting certain features within apps and websites; VPNs are also affected and at risk of being blocked.

VPN use continues to surge in Pakistan, with the latest Proton VPN Observatory report showing a 2,860% increase in sign-ups over the baseline. However, despite the withdrawal of the VPN ban, VPN restrictions in Pakistan may not be over yet.

VPNs are the most common and easiest way to circumvent blocks and Internet restrictions.

The Tor browser can be considered the main alternative. It is free and offers greater anonymity than VPNs due to its multi-layered onion network. Your data goes through multiple encrypted nodes, and no single node knows the entire route of your traffic.

Using a proxy or SmartDNS service is another option, but these do not offer the same level of protection as a VPN or Tor. VPNs and Tor spoof your IP address to make it look as if you are browsing from a different location, but the connection is not encrypted SmartDNS proxies are not available for the same level of protection as SmartDNS. Proxies are slightly better because they change IP addresses, which SmartDNS cannot do, but neither is secure.

It is also worth noting that firewalls are likely to increase surveillance capabilities, and the degree of risk posed by circumventing government restrictions is unknown. Therefore, caution should be exercised when considering circumvention options.

This is a turbulent time for Internet freedom in Pakistan, and the withdrawal of the VPN ban should not be viewed as the end of potential restrictions. Threats to individual privacy rights and Internet freedom remain high and will continue to be monitored.