![\"Internet](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2024-01\/lt67ummg_imran-khan_625x300_03_January_24.jpeg\"\/ "\\"Internet")
<\/div>\nImran Khan is currently languishing in jail after a second arrest in August. (File)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Islamabad: <\/b><\/p>\n
Pakistan’s social media and internet services were severely throttled Saturday night, as the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan held a “virtual rally” ahead of elections in under three weeks.<\/p>\n
The outage of Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube is the second in two weeks coinciding with online campaign events organised by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.<\/p>\n
Elections scheduled for February 8 have been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging, with analysts saying the military establishment — Pakistan’s political kingmakers — are squeezing Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf out of the race.<\/p>\n
The event was due to broadcast Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf speeches by livestream but internet disruptions began in the early evening, before it began.<\/p>\n
“We can confirm the nation-scale restriction of social media platforms across Pakistan,” said Alp Toker, Director of the Netblocks watchdog organisation monitoring cybersecurity and internet governance.<\/p>\n
He told AFP the outage was “remarkably systematic” and “consistent with previous restrictions imposed during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf events”.<\/p>\n
Imran Khan and many prominent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates have been barred from standing for election, and in-person campaigning has been thwarted by a crackdown forcing party leaders to defect or go underground.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, a Gallup Pakistan survey taken in December confirmed Imran Khan is the nation’s most popular politician.<\/p>\n
Google data shows Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vastly outstripping competitors in online searches for political parties in Pakistan, with 80 percent of the traffic.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, a similar internet disruption marred Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s online campaign launch event.<\/p>\n
Keyboard campaigning\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Imran Khan, 71, was ousted in 2022 after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military leaders who backed him into power in 2018.<\/p>\n In opposition, he waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the military establishment which has directly ruled the nation for much of its history.<\/p>\n Imran Khan accused them of engineering his removal from office in a no-confidence vote via a US-backed conspiracy, and of plotting an assassination attempt that saw him wounded.<\/p>\n The crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf began after Imran Khan’s brief arrest last May sparked riots, with Islamabad saying it had been targeted by “anti-state” violence.<\/p>\n Imran Khan is currently languishing in jail after a second arrest in August, and has been barred from standing for office over a graft conviction.<\/p>\n He says the avalanche of legal cases burying him have been triggered by the military establishment to prevent him from leading Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf back to power.<\/p>\n Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf — credited with running a tech-savvy campaign in 2018 — has attempted to mobilise on social media to circumvent the restrictions.<\/p>\n As Imran Khan grapples with the courts, three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif has returned from self-imposed exile and seen his corruption cases dissolve — a sign analysts say he is the army’s favoured candidate.<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n