ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: The ministry of information technology and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are said to be heading for a conflict over powers to curb cyber crimes.

According to sources in the interior ministry, the tussle started after Minister for Information Technology Awais Leghari announced that his ministry was planning to set up information technology (IT) tribunals empowered to investigate and monitor electronic crimes.

Cases of cyber crimes, currently investigated by the FIA, would be handled by the IT ministry after the establishment of IT tribunals.

The IT ministry is reportedly introducing an electronic crimes bill, which will empower the ministry to set up the tribunals and investigate such crimes.

An IT ministry official said that the need for laws on electronic crimes was felt because highly sensitive data and electronic systems, including the control and command system, lacked proper legal protection.

He said that the government had set up a committee, headed by Prime Minister’s Adviser Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, to work out the composition of a specialised agency to ensure the law’s implementation.

On the other hand, a senior FIA official told this reporter that prosecution of cases relating to cyber crimes was the sole prerogative of the agency under a law enacted in 2002. He said that currently all cyber crime cases were being investigated by the FIA as its technical skills made it the only agency in the country capable of dealing with such crimes.

The FIA, he said, had recently unearthed a scam of pirated CDs and DVD movies, and due to its efforts their smuggling into Pakistan had been stopped. Similarly, a number of cases involving misuse of internet phone and credit card scams had been registered.