The internet is patchy on Pakistan’s north-west frontier
The men with the guns still call the digital shots
IMTIAZ HUSSAIN’S weekly meeting with his academic supervisor has become rather fraught. The 28-year-old postgraduate is researching Pakistan’s energy policy at one of the country’s most prestigious universities. But the internet at his home in Kurram, a district on the border with Afghanistan, keeps letting him down. Mr Hussain’s cable connection is an expensive luxury in a region where many people go without internet of any kind. Yet using it for video-calling is a struggle. “Connnectivity…drops every minute,” he complains.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Calls waiting”
From the August 22nd 2020 edition
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