BIG Brother has been watching us. There have been multiple disclosures over the past year about how the activities of millions of Pakistanis are being monitored through a dystopian surveillance apparatus built quietly by the state. This system has now been studied in considerable detail by Amnesty International in a new, ominously titled report, Shadows of Control: Censorship and Mass Surveillance in Pakistan. The report examines the massive snooping capabilities that the Pakistani authorities now possess and warns of their many dangers. “In Pakistan, your texts, emails, calls and internet access are all under scrutiny. But people have no idea of this constant surveillance, and its incredible reach,” Amnesty notes in the report. One also feels compelled to point out this system’s immense potential for abuse by rogue actors, which has come to light in recent days following the leak of private data affecting thousands of high-profile citizens. It should be galling to any self-respecting citizen that the public’s money has been used to entrap it in this network of constant, intrusive surveillance. “Chinese, European, Emirati and North American companies” have provided the technology for this system, according to Amnesty, and the Pakistani state is using it without any legal checks in place.

Facing public pushback against their latest experiments in political control — an experiment referred to as the ‘hybrid model’ — the country’s security czars began deploying a nationwide internet monitoring system in 2018. This system was expanded vastly in 2023, at a time when public dissatisfaction was climbing sharply. Mere months after the controversial February 2024 general election, all telecom operators were mandated by the regulator to instal what is known as the Lawful Intercept Management System, giving intel agencies instant access to citizens’ call logs, private messages, browsing history and much more. This trajectory is reason enough to believe that this surveillance apparatus has not been created to secure the citizenry, but to safeguard the status quo. Alas, the courts seem least interested. Despite efforts last year by the Islamabad High Court to prevent abuse of surveillance powers, the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench removed the safeguards it had placed. It suspended the IHC’s order and has not heard the matter since last December. If the Pakistani people cannot expect protection from the courts, to whom must they turn? It is a troubling question to ponder.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2025