Pakistan spying on millions of citizens, journalists, top politicians using foreign tech: Amnesty Report

PTC Web Desk: Amnesty International has revealed that Pakistan has been secretly spying on millions of its citizens, including journalists and top politicians, using advanced surveillance tools bought from foreign companies. The report, titled “Shadows of Control: Censorship and Mass Surveillance in Pakistan,” says that both Chinese and Western technology have helped Pakistan build this monitoring network.

According to Amnesty, Pakistani authorities continue to unlawfully monitor citizens’ digital activity. The year-long investigation involved several organisations, including Paper Trail Media, Der Standard, The Globe and Mail, Justice for Myanmar, InterSecLab, and the Tor Project.

The report highlights that companies from Germany, France, UAE, China, Canada, and the US are involved in supplying technology for Pakistan’s surveillance systems. The country’s Armed Forces and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) use a system called the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS) to monitor phone calls, messages, and internet activity through Pakistani telecom providers.

Amnesty also describes Pakistan’s Web Monitoring System (WMS 2.0) as a digital “watchtower” that tracks citizens’ online activity and can block websites or VPNs. WMS 2.0 evolved from an earlier version, WMS 1.0, which used technology from the Canadian company Sandvine. After Sandvine sold its operations in 2023, Pakistan started using technology from China’s Geedge Networks, along with hardware and software from Niagara Networks (US) and Thales (France). Amnesty believes this technology is a commercial version of China’s famous Great Firewall.

LIMS, meanwhile, uses tech from Germany’s Utimaco, through an Emirati company called Datafusion, and is installed across Pakistan’s telecom networks with the support of private companies. It allows state agents, including the ISI, to track phone locations, calls, text messages, and website visits. While encrypted websites (HTTPS) only reveal metadata, unencrypted websites (HTTP) can be fully monitored.

Amnesty warns that these surveillance tools operate in secrecy, leaving citizens unaware of being watched. This widespread surveillance restricts freedom of expression and access to information. “LIMS and WMS 2.0 are funded by public money, enabled by foreign tech, and used to silence dissent, causing severe human rights harms against the Pakistani people,” said Jurre van Bergen, a technologist at Amnesty International.

The report further notes that Pakistan’s legal system offers little protection against such surveillance. At any given time, more than four million people could be under scrutiny, Amnesty says.