Pakistan’s top body of clerics, which advises the government on religious issues, has declared the use of virtual private networks against Islamic laws as the government seeks to ban them.

Raghib Naeemi, who advises the government on religious issues, said that Islamic laws allow the government to prevent actions that lead to the "spread of evil."

Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology faced backlash for declaring VPN use to access blocked content as un-Islamic. Critics, including digital rights activists and scholars, argue this stance contradicts privacy rights and highlights governance issues in the country.