Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A legislative body of Upper House of the Parliament on Thursday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take stern action against those responsible for harassing Kalasha women and uploading a video of the incident on social media platforms.

The directions were issued during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology, which held with Senator Rubina Khalid in chair.

Referring to the incident, the committee chairperson said that there was a need to give exemplary punishments to the individuals involved in violating the norms of the society by harassing women. She strongly condemned the incident and called for taking those responsible to task.

While discussing the actions taken on cybercrime, the committee observed that the recently reported incidents of pornography had highlighted many lacunae in the existing laws.

The committee chairperson said people involved in such heinous crimes had links with international mafia and the FIA should take stringent action to unearth such links. “Pornography in any form has social consequences for victims and their families and exemplary punishments need to be given to those involved in such shameful acts,” Senator Rubina observed. The committee sought details of the actions taken by the FIA in such incidents and decided to hold an in-camera session on the matter in the next month.

Earlier, the committee was given a detailed briefing by the FIA cybercrime wing on achievements attained so far in accordance with the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.

It was informed that the PECA 2016 was promulgated by the Parliament in August 2016 to provide for a comprehensive legal framework to deal with cybercrimes, and the FIA had been notified as the investigation agency in cases involving cybercrimes. Officials said that 18,319 complaints were received in PECA from August 2016 to May 2018, and appropriate action was taken in this regard. The committee directed the authorities concerned to expedite the process of completion of enquiries on the complaints.

Senator Rubina Khalid said, “we are not against the freedom of expression but there is a need to adopt some ethical and moral standards, while uploading content on social media tools.” Further, she said that a code of conduct was necessary and there was a need to exercise restraint if the content violated social values and moral standards.

The committee session was attended by Senators Dr. Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Rukhsana Zuberi, Sana Jamali, Fida Muhammad and Mian Muhammad Atiq Sheikh. The minister and the secretary for Information Technology were also present.

Published in Daily Times, June 22^nd 2018.