A seven-member committee has been formed to investigate the internet shutdown during the recent protests that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.

This comes after Nahid Islam, adviser for Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology, sought an explanation as to why the internet was shut down during the protest and who was responsible, with a report within 24 hours.

AKM Amirul Islam, an additional secretary at the Posts and Telecommunications Division, was appointed as the head of the committee.

"We are now working on it," he told The Daily Star.

Earlier, while speaking to journalists at the secretariat, Nahid said action will be taken against the officials involved in the internet shutdown.

Nahid said access to the internet is a right, and disrupting or shutting down internet services is a violation of human rights.

The government shut down mobile internet services on July 17 amid widespread violence over the quota reform protests.

A day later, on July 18, broadband internet was blocked, severely affecting public life and a wide range of economic activities, including utility bill payments, online banking, digital communications, digital commerce, and the clearance of goods from ports.

Mobile internet was restored on July 28, while social media platforms were unblocked on July 31.

However, mobile internet users were unable to access their Facebook and Messenger accounts for approximately seven hours on August 2. Mobile internet and Facebook were blocked again on August 4.

On August 5, both mobile and broadband internet were blocked again for a few hours. The internet was fully restored after 2:00pm, when Hasina resigned from the post of prime minister and fled the country.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, then state minister for ICT and Telecom, maintained that the internet was shut down due to a fire in the data centres in Mohakhali.

                                However, The Daily Star found no evidence of fire upon visiting these data centres. Officials of these data centres also confirmed that there were no instances of arson.