In a televised statement on December 22, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Division Syed Sajid Mehdi, urged Pakistanis to limit internet usage to “important matters only.” This recommendation follows months of reported slow internet speeds, disrupted internet access and difficulties accessing and transmitting media via platforms like WhatsApp, impacting users countrywide.

During his appearance on the DawnNews TV program ‘Doosra Rukh,’ Mehdi compared the internet to a road, suggesting that the more it is used, the more congested it becomes slowing down people.

“There are large loads on our internet, [just] like on a congested road,” he said. “Cars move slower if there is congestion. If 10 people use a road meant for five, it will slow everything down,” he said.

Mehdi called on citizens to avoid “unnecessary” internet use, stating: “I’m not saying stop using it, but use it only for important purposes like work, and not for unnecessary purposes.”

“It will be beneficial if people don’t use the internet too much or for negative thinking,” he said in response to a question about whether people were using it for “unnecessary” purposes in the country.

He said that Pakistan’s internet infrastructure, with a fiber network capacity significantly lower than neighboring countries like India, contributes to these issues. However, Mehdi remained optimistic and said work was being done to resolve the problem “very quickly.”

Mehdi also denied that internet slowdowns were resulting in financial loss to the IT sector. In November, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), representing the country’s IT sector, had expressed alarm and said that internet slowdowns and restrictions to VPNs, for which the registration deadline has since been extended, pose an “existential threat” to the industry.