ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: The Federal Government will introduce some legislative measures to provide legal foundation to Internet-based money transactions.

This was stated by Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, Minister for Science and Technology, at a seminar on “e-government” arranged by Askari Information Systems Limited.

The minister said since the information technology was being used throughout the world in every walk of life therefore “we have decided to give it some legal status in Pakistan as far as the financial bracket is concerned.”

“The proposed law will be put forwarded to the next cabinet meeting for the final approval,” he said.

After implementing the proposed law, the government department’s transactions which had been rattled with corruption would be done through Internet, he added.

Emphasising the need for computer culture in society the minister said: “We are offering the cheapest service in the whole south Asia in the terms of Internet rates and import duties on hard and software.

Internet facility, he said, had been extended to more than 582 cities in Pakistan. The rapidity with which “we have expanded the said facility, there is no such precedent available in the world.” Similarly, Pakistan Telecommunication Limited had played an instrumental role in the expansion of Internet facility in Pakistan, the minister added.

More than two million people used Internet facility in Pakistan and “we hope that with further expansion of Internet the number of its subscribers will increase manifold in near future.

“Unlike India, we are offering Internet service on the fibre optics to more than 200 cities in Pakistan which speaks volumes for development of IT in Pakistan.

“We are undergoing an extensive consultations involving governments both at national and provincial levels, different multinationals operating in Pakistan, utilities such as Wapda, PTCL and SSGL/SNGL to introduce e-government in Pakistan,” he added.

“Our basic focus is to facilitate common citizens of Pakistan in their daily life business. If we incorporate e- government in Pakistan, people will be able to deposit their utility bills through Internet,” he said.