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“The dangerous trend of introducing draconian and repressive laws to limit the civil liberties in the online space is only an effort to block political dissent and diverse opinions. The Pakistani government should understand that increased internet censorship and data surveillance can only turn this democratic state into a repressive regime,” she added.

Pakistan continued its gradual fall during the past four years from its score of 55 and 13th rank from the bottom in 2011.

The study shows that violations of Pakistani internet users’ rights have been rapidly increasing over the past four years.

This steep decline in user rights experience stemmed mostly from religious intolerance, says the report, which was prepared in collaboration with DRF in Pakistan.

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• Four women were killed by male family members in rural areas ofPakistan, one for possessing a mobile phone, and three for featuringin a video circulating on community mobile networks.

• Three men were murdered for being gay by a man who used social mediato identify their sexual orientation.

• Blasphemy charges for digital content spiked in Punjab

• In April 2014, a judge in Punjab sentenced a Christian couple todeath for blasphemy in relation to a text message they deny sending.

• Lawyer Rashid Rehman was shot dead on May 7 after receiving threatsfor representing a professor jailed on charge of committing blasphemyon Facebook.

• The Pakistan Protection Ordinance 2013 categorized unspecified“internet offenses” as terrorism, with suspects subject to arbitrarydetention.

Limits on content

According to the report, limitations on content remained relatively unchanged since last year, with no signs of improvement.

• Popular video-sharing website YouTube remained blocked on governmentorders since September 2012. The status of a plan to launch a localversion of the site censoring objectionable content also remained indoubt.

• Authorities newly blocked film details referencing Balochindependence and a gay community website.

• Citizen Lab researchers found Netsweeper technology automaticallyblocking political and social content on Pakistan’s largest ISP.

Country Score Comparison

—Produced by Sajjad Haider