Amnesty Report Exposes Pakistan’s Mass Surveillance Targeting Citizens and Media

Amnesty International has accused Pakistan of running one of the world’s most extensive surveillance regimes outside China, warning that state monitoring of phone calls, texts, and internet use is eroding citizens’ basic rights to privacy and free expression.

In a damning report released Tuesday, the global rights watchdog said Pakistan has combined Chinese-built firewalls with Western-made tapping systems to build an intrusive nationwide monitoring network. This network, Amnesty said, allows intelligence agencies to spy on at least four million mobile phones simultaneously and restrict access to global social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and X.

Amnesty technologist Jurre van Berge said that the number of phones under surveillance may be higher, as all four major mobile operators have been ordered to connect to LIMS.

Mass surveillance creates a chilling effect in society, whereby people are deterred from exercising their rights, both online and offline.

The group added that more than 650,000 websites have been blocked across Pakistan, making it one of the most censored digital spaces in Asia.

Dual Systems: Phone Taps and Internet Censorship

At the center of Amnesty’s findings are two systems that function in tandem in the Pakistan mass surveillance. The first, the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS), forces all major mobile operators to connect with intelligence agencies, enabling them to tap calls and intercept text messages. The second, a firewall called WMS 2.0, inspects internet traffic and can block up to two million online sessions at once, effectively throttling or shutting down access to websites and social media.

Mass surveillance creates a chilling effect in society, whereby people are deterred from exercising their rights, both online and offline.

-Amnesty report

Pakistan Mass Surveillance: Legal Battle and Denials

The revelations echo a case filed in 2024 by Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after recordings of her private calls surfaced online. During court hearings, Pakistan’s defense and intelligence officials denied operating any phone-tapping system. Yet the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) admitted it had already ordered carriers to install LIMS for “designated agencies”.

Government ministries, including technology, interior, and information, have so far declined to comment on Amnesty’s report.

Foreign Suppliers Under Scrutiny

Amnesty’s investigation also traced the supply chain of Pakistan’s surveillance apparatus to companies in China, Europe, and North America.

• The firewall is reportedly supplied by China’s Geedge Networks, with additional equipment from US-based Niagara Networks, software from France’s Thales DIS, and servers from a Chinese state IT firm.

• The phone-tapping system was developed by Germany’s Utimaco and deployed through monitoring centers managed by UAE-based Datafusion.

• Earlier versions of the firewall relied on Canadian firm Sandvine.

While some suppliers denied wrongdoing or claimed they did not know how their products were being used, human rights experts say the collaboration has enabled Pakistan to tighten its digital grip.

“Mobile call monitoring is common around the world, but combining it with large-scale internet filtering represents a troubling development,” said Ben Wagner, Professor of Human Rights and Technology at Austria’s ITU.

It signals that restrictions on freedom of expression and privacy in Pakistan will only deepen as these tools become easier to implement.

Pakistan Mass Surveillance: Regional Impact and Civil Liberties Concerns

The report highlights that the surveillance has hit hardest in Balochistan, a province already marred by years-long internet shutdowns. Rights groups have long accused the military of enforced disappearances and targeting of Baloch and Pashtun activists, charges authorities consistently deny.

With the Pakistan mass surveillance system, the government is pushing the boundaries of control to suffocating extremes. Laws aren’t just being passed; they are being reshaped, sharpened, and turned into weapons aimed squarely at dissenters. Journalists who once reported freely now face two choices: flee abroad or risk prison cells for words as harmless as a passing comment about the ruling elite. Critics disappear from screens, from newsrooms, and from the streets.

Yet the clampdown has not silenced the country; it has unsettled it. Instead of erasing opposition, the crackdown has carved deep mistrust. Every ban, every arrest, every leak of a private call chips away at the state’s legitimacy. The government may think surveillance buys obedience, but it could just as easily breed revolt. We have recent examples of Bangladesh and Nepal, but the government is unwilling to learn. Short-term grip, long-term fracture – that is the risk.

For ordinary Pakistanis, the firewall is no longer a distant abstraction. Calls tapped. Websites throttled. Voices muted mid-sentence. The barriers are not made of bricks or barbed wire; they are invisible, coded, and everywhere.

And the question that haunts every dial tone, every paused video, and every locked screen remains: when four million phones can be monitored at once, who dares to speak freely?

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