Pakistan: Social media platform X blocked amid political turmoil
Logo of X social media platform displayed on a phone screen
Pakistan elections: Political turmoil in Pakistan following recently concluded elections continued on Saturday (February 10) and social media platform X faced nationwide disruption. Multiple reports in Pakistani media and internet blockage tracker Netblocks have confirmed this.
"Confirmed: Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to X/Twitter across #Pakistan; the incident comes amid political turmoil after a controversial election held under an internet and mobile network blackout," said Netblocks.
What's latest in Pakistan elections?
As reported by Pakistani news outlet Dawn, results for 253 out of 264 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan have been declared and candidates loyal to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan' Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are in the lead with 92 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) on 71. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is at third place with 54 seats. Other parties and unaffiliated independents have bagged a total of 33 seats.
On Friday (February 9) former Pakistan prime minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif declared victory for his party even before official statement from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
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Within hours of Sharif's claim, an audio-visual message was tweeted from Imran Khan's official handle in which his voice could be heard congratulating Pakistani voters and claiming victory for PTI.
On Saturday, other PTI leadersstrongly rejected Sharif's claim of victory.
"Yesterday we saw that a person presuming himself as Prime Minister-elect gave a premature statement. He has no majority," said Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, chief of PTI.
"According to [Imran] Khan sahib’s instructions, the areas in which our results were withheld and delayed — we will share that list with you — and intentionally our majority is being converted… to turn a winning seat into a defeat."
"This is why, God-willing, the areas in which the results were not declared, we will hold protests tomorrow in those constituencies outside the relevant RO offices."
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Imran Khan is currently in jail following in conviction of charges of treason, graft and having an un-Islamic marriage. The cricket icon-turned-politician faces nearly 200 cases. Khan and his supporters claim that all charges and convictions are 'politically motivated'.
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In recent months, authorities in Pakistan have been cracking down on PTI leadership and cadre. The party was barred from contesting elections and removed from the ballot. The party candidates hence contested elections as independents.
In Pakistan, an independent candidate needs to declare his party affiliation within 72 hours of election victory.
(With inputs from agencies)