Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Division, Syed Sajid Mehdi, on Sunday suggested that people should “use the internet less” and for “important matters only” as a solution to frequent internet slowdowns in Pakistan.

In recent months, users have experienced sluggish speeds, difficulty downloading media on WhatsApp, and intermittent connectivity issues across the country.

Professionals in the IT sector have expressed utter dismay to Dawn over how the government handles the internet access issue to check “propaganda or terrorism” in cyberspace.

Digital analysts say the government has been testing a “firewall” that monitors some platforms and gives the power to block content, like photos or videos of rallies shared on WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, the IT industry has claimed that one hour of internet outages or disruption results in a loss of more than one million dollars for the whole sector, including export businesses.

Pakis­tan Software Houses Association (P@sha) Chairman Sajjad Mustafa Syed said on December 3, “A one-hour internet slowdown might not have any significant impact on people, but disturbed services to a client in any stock market, airport service, bank, etc., in advanced countries would eventually lead to loss of confidence in Pakistan’s IT sector.”

Speaking on DawnNews TV programme Doosra Rukh, the parliamentary secretary likened the internet in Pakistan to a road, adding that the more people use it, the more congested it would get and the slower people would move.

“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.”

The secretary also said that Pakistan’s fibre network only has a capacity of 15 per cent compared to India’s 45pc, citing that as another reason for slow internet.

Mehdi said that work was underway to resolve the issue and will be completed “very quickly”.

When asked if the secretary thought that population increase was also to blame for internet slowdowns, he responded in the affirmative. “Like I said, if more people use the roads then of course it will slow down,” Mehdi answered, adding that this would be fixed within three to four months.

He said that curbing what he termed “unnecessary” use of the internet would improve speeds. “I’m not saying stop using it, but use it only for important purposes like work, and not for unnecessary purposes,” he said.

When asked if people in Pakistan were using the internet unnecessarily, Mehdi replied that people should use the internet mostly for work. “It will be beneficial if people don’t use the internet too much or for negative thinking”, he said.

The parliamentary secretary also disagreed with the claim that internet slowdowns were causing financial losses to the IT sector.

When informed that Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) had informed the parliament about the financial loss, he said: “We have not been told officially that the shutdown has caused financial losses. Nobody has filed any requests or complaints about financial losses.

“If anyone has suffered personal losses, then that is a different matter entirely.”