Pakistan social media outages squeeze Imran Khan party's last bastion

Government blames glitches as analysts eye risk of total shutdown on election day

20240125 pakistan election

People sit outside a tea stall with political billboards in the background ahead of Pakistan's general elections in Larkana on Jan. 16. © Reuters

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer

ISLAMABAD -- Social media disruptions in Pakistan have raised concerns over internet connectivity and access to information in the run-up to the country's Feb. 8 election.

The government says recent outages were caused by technical glitches. But the timing has fueled speculation that the ruling establishment is throttling access to target the campaigning of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

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