Surprised why fish only cut Pakistani internet cables: Bilawal Bhutto
Liaquat Ali
Islamabad: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari this week criticised the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-led government over “slow internet speed” in the country, wondering why fish only cut Pakistan’s undersea fibre optics cable.
“PML-N’s politics is based on motorways … infrastructure for our generation is digitalisation, internet and its speed,” Bilawal, who also served as the top diplomat during Shehbaz Sharif’s previous stint as prime minister, said while speaking to journalists.
Users across various cities in Pakistan continue to face sporadic internet disruption and slow speed, resulting in difficulties with browsing, as well as downloading and sharing media.
According to a list issued by Ookla Speedtest Global Index, Pakistan was ranked 100 out of 111 countries in mobile internet speeds with a download speed of 20.61Mbps and upload speed of 8.53Mbps.
Meanwhile, the index ranked the country at 141 out of 158 countries in broadband speeds with a download speed of 15.60Mbps and upload speed of 15.53Mbps.
Bilawal — whose party is an ally of the PML-N in Centre — said they should have increased the internet speed instead of reducing it.
“How can the government retract from its own statements,” he asked, noting first they claimed the internet cable had been cut, later they retracted it.
“Why bother with VPNs when the public doesn’t even have reliable high-speed internet?” the PPP chairman asked.
Responding to a question, he said that water is everyone’s fundamental right and the PPP has always tried to resolve the problems being faced by the people.
“We agreed that the development budget of all four provinces would be chalked out with mutual consultation,” he said, adding that it seems the federal government “is not treating smaller provinces well”.
Furthermore, he said, the PML-N-led government lacks a mandate for “unilateral and controversial” decisions — referring to the federal government’s plan to build new canals to draw additional water from the Indus River for farming purposes.
“Such projects are controversial if we move ahead in violation of the IRSA [Indus River System Authority] agreement,” he added.
Bilawal pointed out that Kalabagh Dam was also a unilateral decision, which the PPP did not allow to be implemented. “It is challenging to get work done from any government in Pakistan,” he said, hoping that the issues of the provinces would be resolved through negotiations.
He vowed that the PPP would leave no stone unturned to provide relief despite limited resources.
