Inside Pakistan’s Cheap Data Bazaar—and the Cost to Public Trust
Pakistan is confronting a sweeping privacy and security scandal after a cache of citizens’ personal data—ranging from national ID copies and SIM ownership to call logs and international travel histories—was advertised online for pocket change. Reporting from Islamabad, Arshad Mehmood details how Federal Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi ordered a federal probe by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, with a report due in 14 days, as intelligence officials warn the breach could be weaponized against policymakers, journalists, and ordinary people. Listings allegedly even included the interior minister’s own records, while the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority says it has tried to block sites, but the underground market persists.
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Experts tell The Media Line the crisis cuts deeper than privacy: Retired navy captain and analyst Adeeb Uz Zaman Safvi calls it a threat to national sovereignty, arguing exposed data could help hostile intelligence map government communications and monitor the movements of decision-makers. Counterterrorism analyst Ajmal Sohail says the breach lands at a precarious moment of political strain and renewed armed violence, raising risks of blackmail and coercion. Digital-rights advocate Syed Jowdut Nadeem frames it as a constitutional rights issue, warning that students, women, and activists face real-world harm. Syed Khalid Muhammad of CommandEleven says this is at least the fifth major breach since 2017—evidence of systemic neglect, even as Pakistan expands digital IDs and cashless platforms.
Context makes the fallout starker: a recent global leak exposed credentials for 180 million users, a 2024 probe found 2.7 million identities compromised at the national database authority, and an audit flagged fraud inside the Benazir Income Support Program. Amnesty International’s “Shadows of Control” report describes expansive state surveillance infrastructure. Read the full piece by Mehmood for the names, numbers, and stakes—and what reform might actually look like.
