ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Army WeChat switch has been reported, with personnel allegedly told to phase out WhatsApp for official communications, although the military has not publicly confirmed the order.
India Today published the claim on August 4, citing an internal military directive referenced in an unnamed intelligence report.
The outlet said the instruction covered officers, soldiers and administrative employees. Personnel were reportedly advised to make Tencent-owned WeChat the preferred platform for official and operational exchanges.
The intelligence report attributed the proposed change to military concerns about surveillance, interception and data breaches involving Western communications platforms.
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However, India Today did not publish the directive or identify the intelligence report. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had issued no public confirmation or denial by August 5.
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Pakistani newspaper Ummat separately described the development as a foreign-media claim and noted the absence of an official military statement.
WeChat supports text messaging, voice and video calls and file sharing. Reports also linked the alleged decision to Pakistan’s defence relationship with China.
But no disclosed military document said the platform would support joint exercises or intelligence sharing. Separately, Pakistan had previously developed the locally built Beep messaging platform for government officials.
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The National Information Technology Board told a parliamentary committee that Beep would use domestic servers and end-to-end encryption.
The reports did not explain whether the alleged military switch was connected to the Beep project.
