Amnesty International has urged the government to unblock X, formerly Twitter, in Pakistan and issue clarification and legal basis for the recent blocking of the platform.

“The suppression of digital platforms, especially when initiated without transparency, often lacks adherence to due legal process and thus, undermines Pakistan’s international law commitments,” the joint statement said, which was signed by 28 civil society organisations including Amnesty International.

The rights organisations expressed concern over the increasing instances of internet shutdowns and social media platform blocking.

“These actions not only infringe upon the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and access to information but also set a troubling precedent of throttling genuine political discourse including plurality of voices in the country,” the statement added.

Terming the X outage an arbitrary action, they said that the prolonged and unannounced disruption of X since February 17, was a sobering illustration of growing digital censorship in the country.

Such actions not only silence diverse political voices, but also create an environment which contributes to the spread of misinformation.

Read: X factor: Twitter ban hits businesses, news in Pakistan

The joint statement blasted the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) over its “complete silence”, saying that the authority failed to furnish any reasons for its actions and exceeded its mandate to block an entire internet platform.

The organisations expressed dismay over the reports of throttling of virtual private networks (VPNs) amid continuous outage of X.

They urged the government to repeal Section 37 of PECA that enables censorship and allegedly violates Article 19 and Article 19-A.