Amnesty International recently published a new sweeping investigation, “Shadows of Control: Censorship and Mass Surveillance in Pakistan,” taking a hard look at the country’s digital repression apparatus. The report revealed how Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies have built a vast surveillance infrastructure with the help of foreign companies — including several based in the United States. These firms supplied critical technologies that now underpin Pakistan’s ability to monitor, censor, and intimidate its citizens at scale.
“Pakistan has expanded its censorship and surveillance capacities through acquisition of the technologies” covered in the report, according to Amnesty.
At the center of Pakistan’s surveillance regime are two systems: the Web Monitoring System 2.0 (WMS 2.0) and the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS). WMS 2.0 functions as a nationwide firewall capable of inspecting and blocking up to two million concurrent internet sessions. LIMS enables real-time interception of phone calls, messages, and browsing activity, with the capacity to monitor over four million mobile devices.
The report warned that “routine use of internet shutdowns has created an environment where authorities can arbitrarily decide, without any transparency, when a website is added to a block list or removed from it, creating a chilling effect on civil society, disproportionally targeting marginalized communities.”
Amnesty said that “International companies and exporting states bear significant responsibility for allowing this to happen.”
While Chinese firm Geedge Networks supplied the backbone of WMS 2.0, Amnesty identified Niagara Networks, a US-based company headquartered in Silicon Valley, as a provider of hardware components used in Pakistan’s WMS 1.0. Niagara Networks told Amnesty that “oftentimes we do not know the end customers and how our products are utilized. … Our products are primarily used in the financial, healthcare & energy markets.”
Another US connection emerged through Sandvine, now Applogic Network, a company originally based in Canada but acquired by San Francisco-based private equity firm Francisco Partners in 2017. Sandvine’s technology powered Pakistan’s earlier firewall system, WMS 1.0, installed in 2018. According to trade data reviewed by Amnesty, Sandvine supplied equipment to Pakistani firms with close ties to the government, including Inbox Technologies and SN Skies Pvt Ltd. Although Sandvine reportedly exited the Pakistani market in 2023, its legacy infrastructure laid the foundation for future upgrades
Amnesty’s investigation revealed that many of these companies failed to conduct adequate human rights due diligence. Of the 20 firms contacted, only two provided substantive responses — Niagara Networks and Sandvine. The rest either declined to comment or offered vague assurances.
Pakistan’s surveillance systems operate with minimal legal oversight. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) formally directed all four major telecom providers to integrate with LIMS, effectively mandating mass interception capabilities. Once a phone number is entered into the system, state agents — including those from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — can access call records, location data, and even encrypted browsing metadata. Amnesty documented how these tools were used to target journalists, activists, and civil society members.
One journalist told Amnesty that “as a journalist, I know that I am under surveillance in my digital space … [We know that] telecom companies in Pakistan are helping the intelligence agencies to intercept my phone calls, messages and even my movement.” The journalist said intelligence authorities even intercepted his WhatsApp messages.
The report also warned that Pakistan’s surveillance regime is expanding under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025, which aims to consolidate citizens’ digital identities and governance data. Amnesty argued that this centralization would deepen the state’s ability to track, profile, and punish dissent. Without change, “the unchecked expansion of digital repression in Pakistan will continue to erode civic space and democratic freedoms,” the report concluded.