Rights Watchdog Warns of Shrinking Freedoms in Pakistan
Amnesty International has revealed that Pakistan’s surveillance network relies on a mix of Chinese and Western technology, raising questions about corporate responsibility in enabling censorship.
According to Amnesty’s report, Pakistan’s firewall—WMS 2.0—is supplied by Beijing-based Geedge Networks and supported by servers from a Chinese state IT firm. An earlier version used technology from Canadian company Sandvine. Current systems incorporate hardware from US-based Niagara Networks, software from France’s Thales DIS, and monitoring tools from Germany’s Utimaco, deployed through UAE firm Datafusion.
Niagara told Reuters it complies with US export rules and does not know how its products are used. Utimaco and Thales did not respond to requests for comment, while Datafusion said its centers are only sold to law enforcement.
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The surveillance system allows authorities to monitor millions of phones through the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS) while filtering and blocking websites in real time. Amnesty said the two systems work together, giving intelligence agencies unprecedented reach into citizens’ private lives.
Pakistan’s Ministry of IT and telecom regulator did not respond to questions. But rights groups say such tools are often deployed most aggressively in conflict zones such as Balochistan, where residents face long-standing Internet shutdowns.
Experts warn that Pakistan’s case highlights how global firms—sometimes indirectly—are enabling governments to restrict freedoms. “The presence of both phone tapping and Internet filtering is a troubling development,” said Ben Wagner, Professor of Human Rights and Technology at IT:U Austria.
