A parliamentary panel has observed that Interior Ministry is creating hurdles in signing of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and Budapest Convention with the United States of America (USA) which, if inked, would be helpful in curbing the increasing menace of cyber crimes in the country.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, which met with Ali Khan Jadoon in the chair here on Wednesday, took serious notice of the absence of secretary Interior from the meeting for the third time and decided to move a privilege motion against him.

Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Major Gen Amir Azeem Bajwa (retd) revealed that 5G trials of Zong and Jazz have been suspended for violation of rules.

Secretary MoIT&T Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui said that the government is considering the approval of social media rules aimed at controlling its misuse and propaganda. The ministry is drafting rules for social media aimed at controlling its misuse/propaganda and these would be sent to the cabinet for approval.

The committee expressed its grave concern over the absence of federal secretary Interior in three consecutive meetings of the committee. The committee directed the secretaries Cabinet/Establishment Divisions to take stern action against him and decided to take up the matter with the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.

The Interior Ministry does not seem to be taking this forum seriously, observed the committee. The secretary IT said that a letter was written to secretary interior to seeking ministry's response to finalize viewpoint on the matter of signing MLAT and Budapest Convention with the United States of America (USA), which allows exchange of evidence and information in cyber crimes.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is facing numerous hardships in obtaining data of alleged cyber criminals from the US government as the federal government is yet to sign MLAT as well as the cyber crimes clause of Budapest Convention. Surprisingly, there was no response from the Interior Ministry, the secretary IT added.

The secretary IT said that under Section 16 of the Pakistan Electronic Crime Act (PECA), FIA needs to be empowered to control the menace of cyber crimes.

He said that FIA needs financial and human resources to upgrade its capacity. A letter was written to Interior Ministry but no response has been received in this regard, Siddiqui added.

This is the third time that Interior Ministry officials have been called but they did not come, said parliamentarians. During the meeting Ali Khan Jadoon directed secretary committee to summon secretary or additional secretary Interior for meeting, but no body came to attend the meeting.

So much propaganda is happening on social media and many members of the Parliament including Dr Nafisa Shah and Maiza Hameed have been subjected to false propaganda while accusing them among the BISP beneficiaries, said Naz Baloch.

"We have not signed the MLAT and this work is to be done by the Interior Ministry," said Jadoon, adding that the Interior Ministry is not taking the matter seriously.

Director Cyber Crimes Wing FIA Waqar Ahmad Chauhan said that the agency lacks the power to take action on its own unless the individual comes with a complaint, which can be made both online or in writing.

He said that FIA lacks resources including hardware, software and human resources. The FIA has 15 complaint reporting centers on cyber crime with 10 cyber forensic experts. However, 407 people have been recruited including experts and currently they are receiving training. He further said that FIA is developing framework on complaint timeframe.

The chairman PTA apprised the committee that section 37 of Pakistan Electronic Crime Act empowers the PTA to just block objectionable contents. At present the PTA engages social media platforms for blocking/removal of any content except Twitter, while other popular social media sites are cooperative.

In a written response, the PTA maintained that signing of MLAT with countries hosting the contents is mainly required to help facilitate the retrieval of records for the purpose of prosecution or investigation. Under section 29 of PECA 2016, FIA has been nominated as designated agency for prosecution and investigation of the offences.

Secretary MoIT&T also said that National Roaming Policy is on the cards which would help in the implementation of "Digital Pakistan" agenda. The PTA will determine/rationalize tariff in this regard, he added.

The chairman PTA said that 5G trials of Zong and Jazz have been suspended. Both the operators have violated the rules and launched misleading campaign. According to rules, before launching advertisement campaign, both operators were required to vet it from the PTA, said Bajwa, adding that Zong and Jazz violated the rules and launched misleading advertisement, giving the impression that 5G services were launched in the country.

He further said that soon after the advertisement, the PTA was flooded with inquiries about the launch of 5G services. The PTA took action, suspended the 5G trails of both operators and these would remain suspended till rectifying the misleading campaign, the chairman PTA added.

The secretary MoIT&T gave a detailed briefing about the ongoing and future projects of Universal Service Fund (USF).

He explained that funds have been utilized on all the projects within the country. In this regard, they have designed the programmes to cater for the needs of un-served and underserved segment of population across Pakistan.

He also informed the committee that at present, USF is in the process of identification of under-served areas of rural Islamabad after which approval of the federal government will be sought.

The committee members also raised questions on the appointment of Tania Aidrus as focal person of Digital Pakistan while observing that merit was not followed.