Federal Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja is running out of platitudes to hide from a string of scathing questions about the government throttling the internet and social media. It only took her two days to make another about-turn and backtrack on a previous statement that ended months of feigned ignorance about the installation of a firewall and talked about the upgradation of the country’s “web management system.” In a “startling” revelation made on Sunday during a news conference, she noted that the government had little to do with the slow internet service, blaming it on the excessive use of Virtual Private Networks. Previously, the same minister had pointed to vague technical faults from service providers as the reason behind the frustrating difficulty in accessing the internet. Quite expectedly, digital experts were quick to dismiss this explanation, but even if the government’s side of the story is to be believed, doesn’t this warrant introspection into a spike in VPN usage in the last few months? Internet speeds have witnessed a reduction of almost 40 per cent, making it impossible to sustain businesses or for freelancers to deliver their projects on time. With petitions filed in high courts and shrill alarm bells sounded by everyone languishing on the edge of the cliff, there is little doubt about the seriousness of the situation. Instead of putting the horse before the wheel, the government, particularly because it wishes to revolutionise IT exports as the highlight of its tenure, should consider moving with caution. What good can splashing advertisements in Times Square bring if Pakistan loses credibility as a reliable partner in the international market? Against such debilitating odds where every official statement is doing nothing other than adding to the opaqueness or ambiguity of the chaos, the entire machinery should prioritise establishing transparency about the operations. Too much has already been said about massive data breaches in Pakistan in the recent past, which made merry on their way to the dark web. But to assume that flashing the safety card allows any state to dismantle fundamental freedoms or erode the hard-earned successes of hundreds of thousands is downright criminal. *