Not fond of shutting down internet, national security is priority: Shaza Fatima

Islamabad: Minister of State for Information Technology (IT) Shaza Fatima said that they have no desire or benefit to shut down the internet, national security is more important.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Shaza Fatima stated that less than 2 percent of Pakistanis use X. The enemy is always ready for cyber-attacks that we have to stop. Here issues arise on religious grounds and social content which is blocked by the PTA. We have to keep our citizens safe.

She added that there is nothing more important than national security. The regulatory system comes into play on security concerns. ‘We do not have a button to shut down the internet, we neither get pleasure nor benefit from it’.

Shahza further said that they took the data with the help of the interior ministers of the provinces and shut down the internet in the target areas, and it did not affect the entire country. This is the first time, we try to ensure that users using technology suffer the least amount of inconvenience. ‘I apologize for the inconvenience caused during this time’.

The Minister of State for IT also stated that steps will be taken to protect our data from cyber-attacks. X was shut down following the instructions of the Interior Ministry and it has nothing to do with freedom of expression. If we had to ban freedom of expression, TikTok and Facebook would not have worked either.

Shaza Fatima further said that the language used against us is unbearable.