Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Wing has received a total of 244,930 complaints since January 1, 2019 of various cyber offenses, and 2,571 cases have been registered besides arresting 2,583 accused so far.

According to official data, the accused were charged on various types of cyber crimes including e-fraud, forgery, dignitary of natural person, modernity of natural person, child pornography, and hate speech. Highest number of such complaints were received to FIA Cyber Wing during year 2021.

Out of total registered 15,973 inquiries, the FIA disposed of 9,791 inquiries and registered 1,224 cases besides arresting 1,306 accused in 2021. Similarly, some 38 accused were convicted out of 591 challaned cases during the said period.

Rapid increase in such cyber crimes followed by slow conviction causes psychological issues of trolling in society which needs immediate pragmatic measures from the quarters concerned. In Pakistan, individuals were being blamed without any evidence.

The cost of litigation is exorbitant as cases used to linger on for years which often ended up outside court settlements. Coordinated attacks on any individual, in many cases appeared to be merely of personal nature. Women are also harassed via inappropriate, derogatory language and insinuation of high favors (sexual) for the top position.

Due to frequent public demand, the government made amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016 to effectively deal with different cyber crimes emanating from misuse of various social medial platform including Youtube, Facebook Twitter etc.

There were cases in which the victims have complained about a smear campaign launched on social media platform, causing huge damage to their character and image in the public.

Professor Azhar Latif said that the victims were demanding of the government to bring in further stringent laws to curb the curse in society. Moreover, the fake news were also adding confusion and uncertainty in the society by maligning individuals and institutions.

In the past, the countrymen witnessed the damage caused by floating of fake news on social media platforms. There were different cases in which news items appeared as fake including Zulfi Bukhari- Isreal visit on British passport, former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar’s fake audio, the prime minister and first lady separation, buying of Roosevelt Hotel by Zulfli Bukhari.

Nauman Habib, a senior lawyer, opined the amendments in the PECA would bring timely respite to the public, especially victims who had suffered from untold agony, suffering and misery and would act as barrier to bust fake news.

Society required effective legal protection and cover for their personal lives against a plethora of fake news items and irrelevant social media items being churned out on daily basis by certain quarters having vested interests. They wanted to harm the basic social values and bent upon creating uncertainty with unfounded news, he added.