Daily Times

Senate Standing Committee on Information Technologies and Telecommunication, on Wednesday, expressed annoyance at the generic briefing on a working paper on the issue of cyber security issue.

The committee said this in a meeting held in parliament house while adding it had not been updated.

Senators called the cyber security issue the key to the safety of any nation and decided to take a detailed in-camera briefing in future meetings.

Members of the committee also directed the ministry to provide a detailed presentation and the current status of the issue.

Chaired by Senator Rubina Khalid, the meeting was attended by Senators Fida Muhammad, Ashok Kumar, Kulsoom Parveen, Engr. Rukhsana Zuberi, Sana Jamali, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh, and senior officers from the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) and Telecommunication.

The committee believed that since mobile phones were no longer considered a luxury, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) must revisit its laws in this regard to provide relief to the people.

IT ministry slammed for generic paper on cybersecurity

Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh was of the view that taxation was not possible because the government did not have a policy for old mobile phones.

Senator Fida Muhammad noted that the taxes imposed on mobile phones were of grave concern for the people.

The committee summoned the FBR in its next meeting to procure more details on this issue.

Deliberating over the establishment of IT Boards, Senator Kulsoom Parveen asserted that these must be set up across all provinces while the MoIT must facilitate in this regard.

While discussing the implementation of the (gov.pk) domain for all government email accounts, the committee members were informed that to date, 3363 email addresses had been created.

However, there still remained a reluctance for their usage. The panel directed the ministry to write a letter to all ministries, directing them to conduct all professional and official correspondence in government offices through official email addresses.

With reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of National Information Technology Boards, Senator Engr Rukhsana Zuberi enquired about the details of services being provided to the government departments.

She asserted that in the current scenario, e-governance should be prioritised. The senator also demanded details regarding all Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform (PSDP) projects, consultancies provided by National IT Board (NITB) at the earliest.

Senator Muhammad raised the issue of the lack of Ufone services in some parts of the Malakand Division. Committee Chair also summoned Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman in the next meeting to provide details on this subject.