• Consultations have been held in different stages: PM’s coordinator.
• Rana Ihsaan Afzal highlights FIA’s lack of tackling the question.
• Says new authority to have Thurs, own rules and regulations.
  

In the midst of concerns between different parts of society regarding the proposed changes in the law on the prevention of electronic crimes 2016 (PECA), the federal government has excluded any abuse of the law, while it insures proper process and debate to amend the disputed legislation.

“[This law] won’t be abused [and if it is] More forums will be available where [the misuse] can be identified and the law can also be changed further [if needed]”Said Prime Minister’s coordinator Rana Ihsaan Afzal while talking about Pakinomist News’ The ‘Pakinomist Pakistan’ program Thursday.

The service’s comments come after the federal government made amendments to PECA, which lowered the prison period to three years from seven years to “intentionally communicate false and false information”.

The draft “prevention of the prevention of electronic crimes (amendments), 2025” includes new definitions, establishing regulatory and investigative bodies and stricter penalties for communicating “false” information.

“Whoever intentionally communicates, exhibits publicly, or transfers any information through any information system that he knows or has reason to believe to be false or false and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or disease in ordinary public Or the community must be punished with imprisonment that can extend up to three years or with a fine that can expand to RS2 million or by both back in 2016.

Suggest the establishment of social media protection and regulatory authority (SMPRA) with comprehensive powers to block or remove online content considered detrimental to public security or state interests, the proposed adjustments, if adopted, would provide an individual “aged by false and false information “To contact the authority to remove or block access to such information and the authority issues orders within 24 hours of the request.

Furthermore, the authority – which must consist of a chairman and eight other members, from which the Secretary Ministry of the Ministry of the Interior, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) must chair and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) President or any member of PTA – may also require any social media platform can sign up for it in any way, form and for payment of the fee that may be prescribed.

The draft also proposes to create National Cyber ​​Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) and Social Media Protection Tribunal.

Fine tuning

Defending the proposed adjustments to the disputed law said PM’s coordinator Afzal that the issue of social media abuse is not a political problem but actually affects hundreds of thousands who fell victim to libel.

He emphasized the need to update the relevant laws and said that a new authority was created because of the questions within the federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and its inability to resolve people’s complaints on this domain.

“There is excessive wrong information out there that violates people’s rights […] Should we allow violation of people’s right to continue, ”he asked.

When asked about the role of the government, Afzal noted that it was the executive role to appoint humans and run such bodies, and if serious deficiencies occur, they could be treated properly and improved.

In response to a question of the seemingly rushed approach and lack of proper consultations with the stakeholders, the Prime Minister’s coordinator said that the bill was not submitted in isolation and that people were duly heard and that their input was taken before it.

“Consultations have been held in different stages,” he said.

He addresses the seemingly broad ambition of what may fall within the framework of “wrong information” (KPIs) and everything would be classified.

“However, this is a broader aspect when an authority is established, it would formulate its own rules and regulations,” he noted.

To assure that the proper process will be followed and the proposed adjustments will be discussed, he said the current question was a bigger problem, but political parties see it in a narrower way.

“It’s not pti versus pml-n [….] You need to meet the abuse of progress, modernization [in social media]”He said, complaining that artificial intelligence (AI) has worsened the situation.