ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The government is planning to set up special IT Tribunals in Islamabad and all provincial capitals, to investigate and check electronic-crimes, an official of the Information Technology (IT) Ministry said here on Sunday.
He said the “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill-2006,” would be tabled in the Parliament soon and was likely to improve Pakistan’s e-readiness ranking, as reflected in indices of various agencies and international business journals.
He said that the bill proposed penalties, ranging from six months imprisonment to capital punishment for 17 categories of cyber crimes, including cyber terrorism, hacking of websites and criminal access to secure data.
“The bill, approved by the Federal Cabinet is the need of the hour as IT-related crimes were increasing day by day,” he said, explaining the salient features of the proposed law.
“Financial frauds and identity thefts are (an) increasing cause of concern for banks, besides hackers who are earning (the country a) bad name,” he said adding that the law would enable the government to seek extradition of foreign nationals through Interpol.
He said the need for laws on electronic crimes was felt because highly sensitive data and electronic systems, including control and command system, did not have the proper legal protection.
The tribunals would comprise seven members. The chairman would hear appeals against electronic crimes. The official said a single member would initially hear the case and the first appeal would go to a larger bench of the tribunal.
The official said the government had set up a committee, headed by prime minister’s adviser Syed Shariffuddin Pirzada, to draft the constitution of a specialised agency to ensure implementation of the law.
He added that the committee would submit its recommendations to the prime minister within one month and either propose the setting up of a new specialised agency or assigning of the implementation task to an existing law enforcement agency.
He said IT ministry would give special training to judges to increase their capacity and understanding of electronic crimes. He expressed the hope that the law would boost the IT sector and build confidence among IT professionals, software exporters, bankers, financial experts and stock brokers.—APP