Cyber Crime Bill Finally Approved by National Assembly

The Cyber Crime bill is supposed to provide legal cover to the development of IT sector and prevent any misuse of IT system specially for any anti state activities.  The bill is seen as a fundamental requirement to ensure that the Pakistan Legal system does provide a system of check and balance for the smooth running of services that are based on IT system such as health, education, commerce etc. Pakistan is seen as one of the fastest cyber economies in the world specially with the introduction of 3G/4G technology last years.

The cyber-crime bill has been criticized by certain segment of the civil society sighting reasons for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies ─ was submitted to the NA early last year by the Ministry of IT.

Also Read: Journalists Termed Draft Cyber Crime Bill as Threat to Freedom of Speech

It was referred to the NA Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication to address concerns raised by the opposition members and stakeholders from the industry. The draft cybercrime bill was cleared in September before being forwarded to the NA for final approval.

Also Read: PASHA and ISPAK take on Government on Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (PEC) 2015