Members of the civil society on Tuesday held a lobbying session with political leaders from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in a bid to ensure that the Prevention of Electronic Crime Bill (PECB) 2016 passes human rights tests before the national assembly endorses it.
The event was organised by the Civil Society Network (PCSN), Tribal NGOs Consortium (TNC), AAs Foundation, Peace Justice and youth organisations, Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) and Blue Veins to discuss the content of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Bill 2015 that has been approved by the Standing Committee on Information and Technology.
The Bill is about to be presented in the national assembly. While some sections of this Bill identify and attempt to counter crimes being done using cyber space, others try to restrict cyber space as a medium of free expression at the cost of the fundamental rights of the citizens.
The Government of Pakistan has said that the PECB is intended to protect the freedom of expression. While the civil society applauds the Pakistani government for aiming to protect the freedom of expression, stakeholders around Pakistan are concerned that the PECB, in its current form, contains provisions that violate international standards of the freedom of expression and the right to privacy.
During the session, PPP Central Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, Senator Rubina Khalid and Senator Sayed Ghani Senate were briefed with recommendations from digital rights experts, lawyers, media representatives and other stakeholders.
“PPP stands with the interest and rights of the citizens of Pakistan. The govt must improve the content of the Bill before it receives the endorsement of the assembly and bring laws to protect data and privacy of the internet users. This law can have several negative impacts on the freedoms of expression in Pakistan,” Kaira said.
Senator Saeed Ghani who is also member of the Standing committee of law and justice of Senate said, “The Bill before the National Assembly has failed to address the serious concerns expressed by civil society. The debate on the floor of the National Assembly should be an opportunity to point out the flaws of this Bill and to reiterate the Bill is not fit for purpose.”
Digital Rights Foundation Executive Director and digital rights expert Nighat Dad, while expressing her views on the occasion, said, “Before this Bill is tabled the ministry of Information and Technology should work to formulate a plan of action to explain the implementation strategy and train the enforcement authorities and judiciary to fully understand cyber space.”
Uzma Oshu from AAs foundation said, “The govt and all legislators in National and Provincial Assemblies must give priority to human rights, rights of the citizen and consumer protection during legislative process.: She called on Govt not to pass the Bill in haste.
Qamar Naseem on behalf of the organisers in his concluding remarks stated that “all stake holders in Pakistan including political party’s representatives, political activities, bloggers, IT industry, civil society and media are concerned about the content of the prevention of Electronic Crime Bill 2016 in its current form and strongly believe that there is need to revisit the Bill in the human rights frame work.”
Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN) Coordinator Taimur Kamal, at the end of the program, handed over a position paper to Qamar Zaman Kaira, which contains recommendations from the civil society.
Image courtesy: Nighat Dad