ISLAMABAD ( MEDIA REPORT )
The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication unanimously adopted Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016 here on Tuesday.
The committee which met with Shahi Syed in chair discussed the bill in detail.
The Chairman said the bill will be handed over to the Senate Secretariat and it is up to Senate to bring the bill on the agenda .
Shahi Syed thanked all the members of the committee for showing keen interest and said The bill had been adopted unanimously due to cooperation of members and the Ministry of Information and Technology and Telecommunication.
The chairman also thanked and appreciated State Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman for extending support to the committee.
Anusha Rehman also thanked the committee members and chairman for unanimously adopting the bill.
The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016 had been passed by the National Assembly and it was refereed by the Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbabi to the committee for further consideration.
Under the law terrorism electronic fraud exaggeration of forgery crimes hate speeches pornographic materials about children illegal access of data (hacking) as well as interference with data and information system (DOS and DDOS attacks)specialized cyber related electronic forgery and electronic fraud etc would be punishable acts.
Briefing on the different PSDP projects on NITB the minister said that an Internal Audit was conducted by the ministry to ascertain the true facts in September 2013 for previous years.
Outcome of the audit revealed that there were probabilities of inefficiency and misappropriation of funds by the employees of PCB and EGD.
She said that financial administrative and procedural irregularities were reported by the audit.
On the basis of audit report she said the ministry referred the matter to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on January 23 2014. The minister said that around Rs 20 billion of Universal Service Funds (USF) are being used for the extension of telecommunication services to un served areas.
She said that 2 and 3 G service will be introduced in remote areas of Balochistan.
She said many projects had been launched in the Balochistan province.
The much-debated Cyber Crime Bill is likely to be tabled in Senate for final approval during the current session.
If endorsed, it would be immediately signed into law.
This was decided in Senate Standing Committee on IT meeting last day.
The committee gave one day time to ministry of telecom and technology to consider all the proposals and recommendations of civil society and the Senate subcommittee to incorporate them into the draft.
According to Senate rules, the business committee has to submit its report by 26th of July.
During the meeting, State Minister Anusha Rehman told the committee that the draft was formed after studying cyber laws of different countries and the government has incorporated all the suggestions of the Upper House in the proposed legislation.
Senator Shibly Faraz commenting on different clauses of the bill said that instead of giving freehand to spy agencies, a third party should also be included in filing the case and investigation process.
The state minister assured the members that the government would include recommendations of committee.
Cyber Crime bill is the one of the most debated proposed legislations of this government, which became controversial when non-governmental organisations’ representatives raised their voice against certain clauses of the bill.
They believe that under article 19 of the 1973 Constitution, the government has incorporated some new clauses, under the pretext of the national counter terrorism strategy.
Under the new law, some tough punishments have been proposed on certain crimes which, according to critics, are more moral than criminal.
Up to seven years imprisonment or a fine of Rs 10 million or both have been proposed for interfering in sensitive data information systems.
Three month imprisonment or a Rs 50,000 fine or both for accessing unauthorised data, three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 5 million for obtaining information about an individual’s identification, selling the information or retaining it with self, up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 0.
5 million for issuing a SIM card in an unauthorised manner, and up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1 million for spreading misinformation about an individual are some of the clauses which has been debated most.
The National Assembly has already approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015 in April this year.
Then the bill was sent to Senate for final approval.
The Senate has sent the bill to standing committee for consideration as per law.
In the upcoming Senate session, the bill will be tabled.
Many believe that the bill is not only tough on citizens but it also gives unlimited powers to investigation officer.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), according to critics, lacks latest technology and human resource to deal with modern and intelligent cyber crimes.
They believe the agency has also a bad reputation of corruption and bowing to political pressure.
Many believe that present government has tabled the bill to save itself from the cyber hawks of opposition.
However, State Minister Anusha Rehman denies the charges and says that objective of the bill is to effectively prevent cyber crimes and contribute towards national security.
Published in The Nation newspaper on 26-Jul-2016