Pakistan’s war on VPNs may have come to somewhat of an end.

The Pakistani government was in the middle of making significant strides towards its goal of banning VPNs until Monday when the country’s Law Ministry announced a VPN ban is probably illegal.

“There was an interpretation issue with the clauses in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, and eventually, it has been noted that the reading of the Interior Ministry in this regard was weak, and the courts would allow the functioning of the VPNs,” a source within the Interior Ministry told the Dawn.

More specifically, the Law Ministry clarified that the government intended to use clauses to justify the VPN ban, which only permitted blocks on “content” rather than “tools.”

The government in Pakistan started targeting VPN usage after VPNs became essential for both residents and visitors to access restricted content as Pakistan further cracked down on popular social media access in 2024.

The most recent ban was on WhatsApp, coming just two days after authorities restricted Bluesky amid its global rise in popularity. X (formerly Twitter) has been inaccessible without a VPN since February, while Meta’s Facebook and Instagram were blocked in May 2023 and July 2024. TikTok, dating apps like Tinder, and other content that the government deems a threat to national security such as pornography and some religious content, is also banned in Pakistan.

This led the Council of Islamic Ideology in Pakistan to issue a religious decree against the use of VPNs, declaring them incompatible with Islamic principles. They argued VPNs allowed access to “immoral” and “illegal content” and that they’re used by  “terrorists” to “facilitate violent activities.”

On Nov. 9 and 10, the country experienced a temporary VPN shutdown, with many users reporting being unable to connect to certain VPN services. The authorities blamed it on a “glitch,” but a request to ban VPNs soon followed.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) declared all VPNs used for commercial purposes must be registered with them by Nov. 30. Any VPNs that weren’t registered, including those used for personal purposes, were set to be banned and become nonfunctional after that deadline.

On the day of the deadline, PTA Chairman Major General (retired) Hafeezul Rehman announced that the government had decided to extend the registration deadline. The following day, the PTA reversed its decision to ban VPNs.

In the meantime, Pakistan has reportedly rolled out an internet firewall similar to China’s, which “has the ability to block VPNs,” according to a Ministry of Defence official familiar with the new system, as reported by Al Jazeera.

“The issues internet users faced in July were due to the firewall testing, which also affected WhatsApp’s multimedia functions, such as sending photos, videos, voice notes and making audio/video calls,” the senior official told Al Jazeera.

“Typically, such systems are tested in a sandbox environment to avoid widespread service disruptions,” the official continued. “Due to the diverse equipment in Pakistan’s internet infrastructure, testing on a live system was necessary, leading to some initial connectivity and service issues.”