ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication has directed the government to take immediate steps for the appointment of permanent, competent and experienced officers in the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) and providing them all necessary resources.
The committee meeting was held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali which was briefed on Cyber-Crime, Cyber Security and Social Media Rules by the FIA and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) officials.
The PTA officials, while responding to the committee members’ concerns in connection with the non-functioning of telecommunication services in flood-hit areas of the country, said that the services of all the cellular companies in most parts of the flood-hit areas have been restored. The PTA officials said that owing to the flood situation around 3,400 towers became non-functional but the companies have now restored over 3,200 sites and were working on the rest of the towers, adding that these sites are located in the areas inundated by the rainwater; once the water recedes the sites will be made operational.
Apart from the restoration of telecom infrastructure, the PTA is also extending its continued support for awareness of the general public, as well as, distribution of funds to affectees, the panel was further informed.
The committee members expressed serious concern about the rise in cybercrime complaints during the last three years. They criticised the process of registration of complaints, shortage of competent staff to handle registered complaints, and shortage of latest equipment for further investigation of the registered complaints. The members urged the department to revisit the direction of the working and address the communication gap between all the concerned departments.
The members expressed concern about the negative propaganda and campaigns against politicians, journalists and institutions on social media and the harassment of elected representatives and their families.
The members emphasized capacity building of the staff working in the cybercrime wing of the FIA.
The committee directed the FIA to prepare proposals for the improvement of the performance of the cybercrime wing and present them before the committee in the next meeting.
The committee unanimously approved the minutes of its previous meetings held on 5th September 2022.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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