Senate panel on interior condemns Altaf’s statements. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: The United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) is spying on Pakistan military and civilian leadership, claimed Senator A. Rehman Malik on Tuesday.
He said that he and many Pakistanis were upset by the news that NSA used malware to spy on Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership which “is indeed a malicious act, putting our national security at risk”.
“It is a highly condemnable act,” said the Senator.
He expressed these views while chairing the meeting of Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics.
Pakistan, he said, lacked adequate national laws for tackling such attacks.
Senator Rehman Malik asked the National Telecommuni-cation Corporation (NTC) and PTA to brief the committee in its next meeting about measures taken “to stop such cyber threats”.
He said: “A very special malware codenamed SECONDATE was used by NSA to spy on Pakistan leadership.”
He also asked the government to take up this issue with the US officials and ask them why Pakistan’s security was compromised.
Later, the committee condemned MQM leader Altaf Hussain for issuing an anti-Pakistan statement and the MQM workers for attacking media houses in Karachi.
According to the Senator, Altaf Hussain’s statement had hurt the feelings of all patriotic Pakistanis and was strongly condemnable.
Expressing concern over the attacks on media houses by MQM workers, the committee’s chairman asked the Secretary Interior to submit a detailed report and also instructed the IGP Sindh to brief the committee on the matter in next meeting.
Malik also said that IMEI numbers and Microsoft software were being pirated by terrorists and it was essential to stop the import of “millions of mobiles with a single IMEI number” and to get rid of such dangerous moves.
He asked the government to bring the draft of bill of National Cyber Security.
Director FIA Dr Usman Anwar briefed the committee about the Grand Hyatt Hotel scam in Islamabad and the committee expressed concern over embezzlement in the deal with CDA. Rehman Malik said that officials responsible for it must face the law.
Director FIA Usman Anwar told the committee that FIA was investigating the case and an inquiry report will soon be submitted to the court.
Rehman Malik asked the CDA and FIA to explain how and why the schedule of payment was changed and what motives were behind this move.
The Committee also asked the CDA to submit a detailed report about Safa Gold Mall which was reportedly built on the land of a public dispensary.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2016.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ