- Mobile and internet services in Quetta were suspended starting Sunday night as a precautionary measure linked to ongoing protests in the region. Services are expected to resume by midnight on Tuesday, January 7.
- The suspension follows a shutter-down strike called by the Jamiat Ulema-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party in protest of alleged election “rigging.” JUI-F Balochistan leader Maulana Abdul Wasay stated, “The protest will continue until we get our rights.”
- In addition to the protest-related disruption, Pakistan has suffered significant financial losses due to internet shutdowns in recent years. The country faced internet disruptions costing $1.62 billion in 2024, the highest globally, surpassing even Myanmar and Sudan.
- Pakistan experienced 18 internet shutdowns last year, affecting 83 million users. These outages resulted in heavy losses for businesses, amounting to over 9,700 hours of downtime.
- The longest and most costly disruption occurred in February 2024 with the temporary suspension of X (formerly Twitter), resulting in a $1.34 billion loss. Another significant shutdown in Balochistan during protests in July and August cost $11.8 million after 864 hours of disruption.
Election Results
- Meanwhile, unofficial results from the re-polling in the PB-45 Quetta constituency show Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Ali Madad Khattak winning with 6,883 votes. Nasarullah Zayrai of PMAP and JUI-F’s Usman Pirkani secured 4,122 and 3,731 votes, respectively. This follows the Supreme Court’s approval of an election tribunal’s decision to recount votes at 15 polling stations in PB-45, uncovering discrepancies and boosting the petitioner’s vote count by 4,912 votes. The court dismissed an appeal from PPP’s Mir Ali Madad Jatak, confirming the tribunal’s findings.
