Pakistan govt acquires advanced spyware to consolidate control over civil society

Athens, Dec 16 (IANS) Pakistan maintains one of the most extensive censorship and monitoring systems in South Asia, marked by internet shutdowns, social media restrictions, and broad surveillance of communications as part of its governance toolkit, a report said on Tuesday.

According to a report in Athens-based Geopolitico, the deployment of Predator, a spyware system developed by the Israeli company Intellexa, represents more advanced surveillance capabilities, enabling authorities to breach devices directly rather than relying on telecom networks or service providers.

The development, it said, marks a qualitative leap in surveillance, further eroding the security of Pakistani activists, journalists, and lawyers who depend on encrypted communications to protect their work.

“On December 4, Amnesty International disclosed that Pakistani targets had come under surveillance through Predator, a spyware system developed by the Israeli company Intellexa. The revelation stemmed from a case in Balochistan, where a human rights lawyer approached Amnesty in the summer of 2025 after receiving a suspicious WhatsApp link. Technical analysis by Amnesty’s Security Lab confirmed the link as an attempted Predator infection, marking the first publicly documented use of the spyware inside Pakistan,” the report detailed.

“Predator, Intellexa’s flagship product, is notorious for its ‘1 click’ attack method: a malicious link that, once opened, exploits vulnerabilities in browsers like Chrome or Safari to gain access to a device. Once installed, Predator effectively transforms a smartphone into a portable surveillance hub, capable of reading encrypted messages, harvesting passwords, tracking movements, and silently activating microphones and cameras,” it added.

The report noted that the confirmed use of Predator in Pakistan reflects a sharp escalation in the country’s surveillance capacity. It highlighted that in Balochistan province, long plagued by enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and heavy militarisation, the lawyers and human rights defenders representing families of the missing are often placed at the fault line between the security establishment and marginalised communities.

“By directing Predator against a human rights lawyer in Balochistan, the state has signalled its willingness to deploy invasive spyware against civil society actors rather than limiting its use to terrorism or organised crime investigations. This undermines official claims that surveillance technologies are employed only in the interests of national security. Instead, it reveals a pattern of targeting those who challenge state narratives, defend victims of abuse, or expose violations,” the report mentioned.

“Predator’s deployment in Pakistan is not an isolated incident but part of a broader trend in which governments acquire cutting-edge surveillance tools to consolidate control over society,” it stated.

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