Use of VPN declared un-Islamic

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology has declared the use of Virtual Personal Network (VPN) as un-Islamic. 

In a statement, council chairman Allama Raghib Naeemi stated that a VPN gives users access to illegal and unethical sites and information and that’s why its use was un-Islamic. He said the use of VPN to access any blocked or objectionable sites was also un-Islamic. 

He was of the opinion that VPNs being used against the integrity of the country and for accessing controversial and blasphemous materials should be blocked by the government. He said under Shariah the government had powers to act with the aim of eliminating bids to access or promote vices.

Earlier in the day, the government wrote a letter to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block all illegal VPNs in the country.  After the blockade of X (formerly Twitter) many users in the country have been using VPNs to access the social media networking platform.

The ministry of interior has said VPNs were used by terrorists to carry out their activities and this helped them to conceal their identities. It said VPNs were also being sued for blasphemy and access objectionable sites.