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Pakistan’s National Assembly on Thursday, December 20, 2012, passed a controversial legislative bill which if signed into law, will authorise the state to intercept private communications in order to catch terrorists.

According to the report, “The legislation allows security agencies to tap people’s phone calls and intercept other private communications in order to catch terrorists. The government claims that existing laws neither comprehensively provide for nor specifically regulate use of advanced and modern investigative techniques such as covert surveillance and human intelligence, property interference, wire tapping and communication interception that are used extensively in other countries, including the US, the UK and India.”

Do you think this method will be used ethically and fairly in Pakistan? What about the basic right to privacy? Will it actually ease the process of capturing terrorists or all the more force them to hide under the radar?

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