ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was on Tuesday allowed to establish 15 cybercrime reporting centres in the country.

The Ministry of Interior issued a notification allowing the FIA to establish the centres in all the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan.

As many as five of the centres will be opened in Punjab, three each in Sindh and KP, two in Balochistan and one each in Islamabad and Gilgit.

Five centres will be set up in Punjab, three each in Sindh and KP, two in Balochistan and one each in Islamabad and Gilgit

The decision was taken in accordance with section 51 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015, which grants the government powers to take all the necessary measures for the prevention of cybercrime.

According to officials, the step was taken keeping in view a sharp increase in cybercrime in the country.

The jurisdictions of the 15 centres will cover the whole country aimed at taking prompt action against any cybercrime and the culprits involved in it, they added.

The five centres in Punjab will be set up in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan. The centre in Lahore will cover Lahore, Kasur, Nankana Sahib, Sheikhupura, Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan.

The Rawalpindi city, Jhelum, Chakwal and Attock are given in the limits of the cybercrime reporting centre to be set up in Rawalpindi while Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Sialkot will be covered by the centre to be set up in Gujranwala.

Faisalabad, Chiniot, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Sargodha, Khushab, Bhakkar and Mianwali have been kept under the limits of the Faisalabad reporting centre.

Multan, Vehari, Khanewal, Lodhran, D.G. Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahimyar Khan are included in the limits of the Multan cybercrime reporting centre.

The limits of the Peshawar cybercrime reporting centre include Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Malakand, Buner, Chitral, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Shangla, Swat, Mardan and Swabi. Similarly, D.I. Khan, Tank, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Kohat, Hangu and Karak are given in the limits of the centre to be set up in D.I. Khan.

The Abbottabad cybercrime reporting centre will cover Abbottabad, Kohistan, Mansehra, Torghar, Batagram and Haripur while the jurisdiction of Karachi cybercrime reporting centre will be Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi South, Karachi Central, Malir and Korangi.

Sukkur, Khairpur, Ghotki, Larkana, Jabcobabad, Kashmore, Shahdakot and Shikarpur are given under the reporting centre to be set up in Sukkur while Hyderabad, Dadu, Jamshoro, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushehro Feroze and Sanghar are given in the jurisdiction of Hyderabad centre.

The Quetta cybercrime reporting centre will look after Quetta, Qilla Saifullah, Loralai, Musakhel, Sherani, Sibi Lehri, Harnai, Ziarat, Kohlu, Dera Bugti, Jafarabad, Sohbatpur, Nasirabad, Jhal Magsi and Kech. The Gwadar centre will cover Kech, Panjgur, Kalat, Mastung, Khuzdar, Awaran, Kharan, Washuk and Lasbela.

The Gilgit cybercrime reporting centre will report about Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Baltistan, Kharmang, Shigar, Ghanche, Astore and Diamer.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2018