Proposed cybercrime legislation draws more flak

Karachi
Senior journalists on Monday expressed serious apprehensions over the proposed Prevention of Cybercrime Bill (PECB) 2015, to be tabled soon in the National Assembly for approval, terming it a blatant violation of fundamental human and publishers’ rights.
Referring to the proposed penalisation of everyday online activity, including sending of e-mails and any sort of political discourse over the social media, journalists said the bill had been specifically designed to forestall criticism against the government and was liable to be misused by the authorities against their opponents.
At an interactive dialogue organised by the Karachi Press Club attended by legal experts, senior journalists and politicians, all sections expressed their reservations over the proposed bill asserting that its clauses infringe upon basic human rights and safeguards.
The journalists included senior analyst Mazhar Abbas, former editor Jang Nazir Leghari and Jang’s web editor Fazil Jameeli.
Speaking on the occasion they termed the proposed law as draconian and “aimed at gagging the voice of dissent and free speech”.
“We don’t deny the need for cybercrime legislation, but this bill in its present form will be grossly misused against the media,” said Mazhar Abbas.
He expressed serious apprehension about the bill, saying it would be selectively used against critics of the government.
According to Senator Taj Haider, the bill did not seem to have been drafted by a democratically-elected government.
Sharing personal experience, he said e-mail conversations between him and the late Benazir Bhutto had also been intercepted. “My emails never reached Bibi’s inbox and I used to receive blank e-mails with a message ‘e-mail not delivered’.”
He said the proposed bill seemed to be the handiwork of “secret agencies” and the present government wanted to give their sweeping surveillance powers legal cover.
“E-mails can be monitored, but only after a court order, and there should be reasonable doubt about the stuff, and the authorities should not have the right to violate citizens’ privacy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Barrister Zameer Ghumro believed that the proposed law also trampled on provincial rights and the right to information.
According to him, criminal administration was a provincial subject and only provinces could legislate on the issue because information technology was not a part of the federal legislative list. “Therefore, PECB is a violation of provincial jurisdiction and is an effort to usurp the provincial power of legislation on curbing electronic crime, a subject not specifically mentioned in the federal legislative list.”
He said the whole scheme was to centralise the ministry of IT and establish courts, stripping provinces of legislative and administrative powers.
Barrister Zahid Jamil, who had advised the government in 2014 in preparing a consensus draft of the cybercrime bill, said the current legislation did not address crime in the
cyberspace.
“The provisions dealing with cybercrime in the stakeholders’ draft have been deleted or replaced with offences which gag everyday online activity while the bill also misses procedures for investigation, effective prosecution and powers for international cooperation,” he said.
Participants of the dialogue agreed to categorically reject the PEC in its current state and send it back for review of the National Assembly Standing Committee and legal and technical experts on cybercrime.
Senior journalist Omar R Qureshi, KPC president Fazil Jamili, KPC secretary A H Khanzada and others also spoke on the occasion.