The interior ministry on Friday informed the Lahore High Court that Pakistan had not signed "Budapest Convention" on cybercrime as Israel was also a signatory of it. Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh while hearing the petition against hate material on social media asked the petitioner's counsel to submit their arguments in the light of replies by both the ministries on next hearing.

The reply submitted by the interior ministry said, India was seriously thinking of signing Budapest Convention due to which Pakistan needed to be very careful for opting such possibilities. The ministry stated that a committee had been constituted comprising all stakeholders including law enforcement agencies and ministry of foreign affairs to go through clause by clause of all sections of Budapest Convention.

The ministry stated that a meeting for signing the convention was conducted on January 22 last. However, it said, the agencies did not support the proposal pointing out that Israel was also signatory of it and Pakistan did not recognise Israel as a state.

In a separate reply, the ministry of foreign affairs also told the court that the Budapest Convention was highly intrusive and would compromise on data. It said many countries outside Europe including China, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were of the opinion that the convention was a regional initiative by the EU and severely compromised data sovereignty. The reply said another convention on cybercrime under the auspices of the UN was being deliberated at and Pakistan had supported the idea at the UN general assembly.

The ministry further stated that Pakistan had so far signed Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreements with Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, China and Kazakhstan.