“Electronic Crime Bill 2016” will be made a law next week : Anusha Rehman

 Lahore : Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Anusha Rehman says the amended “Electronic Crime Bill 2016” will be made a law next week to effectively deal with cyber crimes in the country. “The amended Bill will be presented before the National Assembly and would become a law”, Anusha Rehman said .Currently Pakistan has no law to comprehensively deal with the growing threat of cyber crime,she added.

After passing the Bill from the Senate, it would be sent back to the National Assembly as few amendments are made in the Bill. The Bill would come into law, after passing it from the Lower House.

However, the Opposition’s claims of bringing 50 amendments in the Electronic Crime Bill couldn’t be verified . It was learnt that only 08 minor amendments were suggested 04 by senator Aitzaz Ahsan and 04 by other opposition members on friday. These amendments would not affect the basic structure of the Bill. She also criticized Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairman Pakistan People’s Party for his objections on the Bill at the eleventh hour while saying that the Party had nominated Senator Farhatullah Babar who gave a significant input in the Bill.

The minister said that the proposed law would help in reduction of women harassment. Women living in rural areas some times fall prey through internet/social media/computer and get victimize, however this law would help in reduction of such crimes.

The IT Minister said internet is the engine of economic growth in the modern world and any country cannot afford to block it every time; however there was need of such legislation to resolve the issue permanently.

Telecommunication laws have no such provision to deal with traditional online crime, said the minister, adding that effectively addressing these unique and unprecedented crimes with similarly unique and necessary procedural powers requires a completely new and comprehensive legal framework that focuses on online conduct of individuals/organizations in the virtual world.