ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, fearing millions of dollars loss in terms of IT remittances on account of proposed Virtual Private Network (VPN) blockage, termed it illegal, as it was not in law to block an app.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication as well as Pakistan Telecommunication Author-ity (PTA) failed to satisfy the committee on proposed blocking of VPN from November 30, which met with Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan in the chair, here on Monday.
The committee was informed that around one million freelancers in the country who bring around $400 million in the country are at the risk on account of VPN blockage from November 30.
On repeated questions, Member Legal MoITT failed to produce law for blocking VPN in the country. He also revealed that the Ministry of Interior directly sent letter to the PTA, and the ministry did not know about it. When asked from chairman PTA, he replied that the directive was received from Ministry of Interior and they were bound to implement it.
The committee called the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII)’s comments on the blockage of VPNs as unreasonable. The committee humorously suggested that the CII should also ban television as it displays harmful content. The committee opined that nothing would be achieved by blocking the tools, and instead, the government should focus on regulating them. The committee sought the basis for the CII’s judgment.
The committee discussed the recent letter of Interior Ministry concerning the blockade of VPNs to PTA without letting Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications know about its whereabouts.
Senator Afnanullah questioned the legality of Interior Ministry’s letter. He was of the opinion that the VPNs donot fall under the umbrella of social media apps. The committee directed the PTA to sought legal opinion of Attorney General for Pakistan on whether or not the VPNs fall under the ambit of social media apps.
The PTA chairman said that if VPNs are registered, internet shutdowns would no longer happen in Pakistan. He said PTA has already registered 25,000 VPNs under a policy initially introduced in 2016.
The committee members raised eyebrows at PTA chairman’s suggestion that VPN is not social media, but it is possible to access social media through it, questioning whether the PTA truly understood VPN technology. Responding to a query on why the authorities disrupt internet services, the PTA chairman said shutdowns primarily occur due to security operations in regions like Balochistan.
He assured that registering VPNs would mitigate all internet issues for businesses in Pakistan. The chairman also hinted at broader regulatory plans by comparing Pakistan’s VPN policies with those in Gulf countries, China, and Turkey and lamented the disparity between Pakistan’s digital framework and these highly controlled and developed environments.
The committee also expressed serious concerns over the reasons for internet disruption countrywide. Senator Palwasha Khan termed the absence of Minister and Secretary IT as their negligence to defend the current internet disruption. She stated that there are around 2.5 million freelancers in the country, and the recent internet disruption was causing hindrances for them in earning their livelihood.
Despite inviting Minister for IT, she did not bother to attend the meeting for the third consecutive time. The committee decided to write a letter to the prime minister, highlighting the inability of the minister to defend the ministry’s decisions.
Furthermore, the committee was briefed on the criteria followed for the selection of the secretary of IT. Officials of the Establishment Division informed that a person holding a graduation degree with 20 years of experience in the field could qualify for the position, however, out of all candidates;15were shortlisted for the interview.
Senator Dr Mohammad Humayun Mohmand remarked that, of the 15 shortlisted candidates, three were PhDs and one was enrolled in a PhD programme, and yet the government selected the one with only a graduation degree.
The committee expressed displeasure on the selection criteria for the secretary of IT, stating that the criteria reflects that it was designed to select a “blue eyed” individual.
Discussing the court cases pending concerning LDI and FLL companies, officials apprised that a total of 24 cases are pending in different courts against the alleged amount of Rs78 billion which is being owed by LDI and FLL companies.
However, principal amount claimed by PTA in all these cases is Rs24 billion while Rs54 billion is fined with an interest rate of two per cent per month. It was highlighted that in some cases the stay order has been operative since 2011, and since then, no effort has been made to vacate the stay order. Officials apprised that they have somehow succeeded in clubbing these cases and expected the early resolution of these matters.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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