Overview
- Amnesty’s report, released Sept. 9, says Pakistan’s LIMS can monitor more than 4 million phones at once and that WMS 2.0 can block up to 2 million active internet sessions.
- The firewall is attributed to China’s Geedge Networks with components from US-based Niagara Networks and France’s Thales, while an earlier version relied on Canada’s Sandvine, now AppLogic.
- LIMS is tied to technology from Germany’s Utimaco and is deployed via UAE-based Datafusion, enabling access to calls, texts and subscriber data across telecom networks.
- Amnesty estimates around 650,000 web links are currently blocked and notes restrictions on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and X, with prolonged blackouts reported in Balochistan.
- In a 2024 Islamabad court case, defense ministries denied phone-tapping capacity, yet the telecom regulator acknowledged ordering operators to install LIMS for “designated agencies,” and most companies and governments contacted gave limited responses while Pakistan’s government did not engage.