ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Committee on Interior on Tuesday was unanimous that social media is the need of the era and the forum is not in favour of baseless limitations on its use but the use has to be regulated in such a manner that it does not hurt others through misuse and does not harm anyone’s respect in the society.
The Senate’s committee also stressed that those who are spreading propaganda against the state and are using the platform to harm their opponents should be taken to task. The Senates’ committee held its meeting Tuesday under the chair of Rehman Malik here at the Parliament House.
Taking serious notice of social media being used for propaganda against individuals and against collective issues the committee held a detailed briefing by director Cyber Crimes FIA on spreading of objectionable and defaming content on social media.
Director FIA Cyber Crime Cell briefed the committee on the actions to be taken on spreading disinformation, derogatory remarks against the institutions, political parties, individuals and the complaint received under the Cyber Crime Act.
Senator Rehman Malik directed PTA to coordinate efforts for curbing disinformation and derogatory remarks on social media and a focal person at least rank of assistant director should be deputed by the FIA Cyber Crime Wing in PTA monitoring cell and a focal person from PTA monitoring should be deputed in FIA Cyber Crime Wing for better coordination against cyber-crimes.
He directed that an advertisement should be telecasted on all TV channels that any offence under Cyber Crime Act is punishable so avoid spreading hate and abusive materials on social media.
Rehman Malik said that the committee appeals the citizens of Pakistan that they should report any disinformation, derogatory remarks, humiliation and blasphemy materials on social media to PTA.
Committee has direct the Ambassador of Pakistan to UAE that collect the information about mechanism adopted by UAE for social media regulation and share said information with PTA for effective social media regulation.
Rehman Malik directed that PTA should move all the cases in which social media operators are not cooperating with FIA and FIA will move the case further as per law. Committee directed FIA and PTA to hold a joint meeting to discuss and solve the legal matters for better cooperation.
Director FIA Cyber Crime Cell briefed the committee that the name of the person who uploaded the picture of the grave as symbol of a candidate on twitter is identified as Zia-Ur-Rehman and FIA has written a letter to the Twitter for provision of details of the IP address so that FIA could arrest the culprit.
He also told the committee that FIA has also written to an English daily for the information about the pictures of animal which were used to humiliate a political leader but so far FIA has received no reply.
Rehman Malik said that social media is the need of the era and the none of us is not in favour of baseless limitations or banning on its use but the use has to be regulated in such a manner that it doesn’t hurt others through misuse and doesn’t do harm to anyone’s respect in the society.
The Senate committee in its meeting strongly condemned the suicide attack in DI Khan in which PTI’s candidate Ikramullah Khan Gandapur along with his driver embraced martyrdom and the killing of Yasir Kalhoro, the PPP worker when a rally at Pir Jo Goth town of Khairpur was attacked on Sunday by some miscreants.
The committee expressed heartfelt condolences with bereaved families of the martyrs and offered Fateha for martyrs of recent terrorist attacks during election campaign.
The chairman committee observed that it was a collective wish of every Pakistani that the election process and the environment across the country during this time stays peaceful but unfortunately anti-state agents are active again and a big number of precious lives were lost. He said that the recent wave of terrorism during election campaign shows that the backbone of terrorism is not yet broken and they are assembling to continue their heinous activities of killing the innocent people of Pakistan.
He said that terrorists are playing in the hands of Pakistan’s enemies who want to destabilise Pakistan but they will not succeed in their nefarious designs.
He asked the Ministry of interior to direct the Sindh Police to immediately arrest the culprits responsible for the killing of PPP’s worker Yasir Kalhoro and submit a detail report on the incident to the committee. He said that he prays may the Election Day and each day be peaceful in Pakistan and appealed the people of Pakistan to come out of their homes tomorrow for casting vote.
Senator Kalsoom Parveen said that the painful incident of Mastung Blast in which more than 200 innocent people martyred was totally blackout by the media to cover the arrival of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. She said that no incident can be more important than the tragedy of Mastung.
Senator Rehman Malik asked chairman Pemra to take notice of it and seek explanation from all private media channels as to why this national tragedy was absolutely blacked out by media.
Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood raised the point against a newspaper involved in blackmailing and spreading false news against him. He said that the culprit has a fake degree from Allama Iqbal Open University yet running a newspaper, adding that the university has asked FIA to investigate the matter but FIA is hesitant in taking any action against him and his newspaper.
Rehman Malik directed the FIA to investigate the matter and report be submitted to the committee. He, while expressing grave concerns over the propaganda against Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood, directed FIA to complete the inquiry as soon as possible and persons involved in it must be traced and action be initiated against them as per law. Chairman committee recognised the efforts of Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood for his welfare services.
While discussing the death of three girls in Cholistan desert of Fort Abbas, Rehman Malik directed the Ministry of Law and Justice to provide legal assistance as to whether the course of exhumation of the dead bodies or the formation of JIT is to be made to solve the mystery of the case.
The meeting was attended by Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood, Senator Kalsoom Parveen, Senator Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh, chairman PTA, chairman Pemra, director FIA Cyber Crime Cell and officials from Ministry of Law and Justice.
