ISLAMABAD: The two-day Pakistan Cyberspace Conference concluded on Friday in which not a single parliamentarian from the ruling party turned up.

The conference was organised by Bytes for All, a non-governmental organisation, at a local hotel and the aim of the conference was to give awareness to the government and people about cyber crime and internet security.

The head of Bytes for All, Shahzad Ahmad, while talking to Dawn, expressed his disappointment over government’s lack of interest in the conference.

Ministers, ruling party MPs fail to turn up at the conference

He said they tried to contact the government functionaries but they did not respond.

“Minister for Information Technology and Telecom Anusha Rehman did not receive call despite many efforts. E-mails were also sent at her three accounts but to no avail.

“Although Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid and MNA Maiza Hameed had assured to attend the conference, they too did not turn up,” he said.

“It seems the government is not willing to talk on important public issues,” he said.

Replying to a question, Mr Shahzad said the government and its departments should seek input from civil society for legislation on cyber crime.

The apathy of the government to cyber security issues could be gauged from the fact that it has not finalised as yet its team for the Global Conference on Cyberspace being held in the Netherlands in April, he said.

“In the conference the governments representative from around the world will discuss issues related to global internet governance and cyber security,” he said.

However, parliamentarians from Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and Awami Watan Party (AWP) participated in the conference and gave their suggestions.

On the second day speakers said personal and business data available online makes it an easy target of criminals.

In the absence of proper protections, people especially women face online violence which at times translates into physical violence, they said.

Pakistan is among few third world countries which do not have proper cyber crime legislation.

The ordinance issued by General Pervez Musharraf has lapsed and new law could not be passed by the parliament as yet.

Member National Assembly Arif Alvi from PTI said cyber crime was a sensitive issue and civil society should force the parliamentarians to make legislation to curb it.

Writer and researcher Gul Bukhari said the previous legislation did not address so many issues and even the current draft bill has some flaws.

Barrister Zahid Jamil said the government should involve civil society in framing the laws regarding cyber crime.

The Women’s Digital League president, Maria Umar, said the blockage of YouTube had cost her six clients because she failed to deliver social media packages.

It is pertinent to mention that companies, which outsource the advertisement campaigns, tell their clients to upload promotional campaigns on YouTube and then manage the contents including comments. the YouTube is blocked, companies will never give business.

“Blockage of YouTube has severely damaged the online business in Pakistan. It should be opened as soon as possible,” she said.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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