Karachi’s cyber-crime officials summoned

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on Wednesday summoned the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing Karachi officials at its next meeting and sought the details of the complaints they had received.

During a huddle of the committee presided over by its chairman Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, Federal IT Minister Syed Aminul Haque warned the telecommunication companies that they would face more fines if they did not improve their services.

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) director general informed the participants of the meeting that a legal notice would be issued to cellular company Telenor in the coming week.

The PTA DG shared that a survey had been conducted in Chitral, revealing Telenor’s substandard service at 98 sites assessed out of the total 128 in the region.

He added that while improvements were witnessed after issuing a show-cause notice to Telenor, the quality of service still remained unsatisfactory.

Therefore, the official continued that a legal complaint would be filed against Telenor next week.

A Telenor representative explained that their company was facing difficulties because letters of credit (LCs) were not being opened, delaying its operations.

The representative also highlighted that the availability of fibre from the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) would help address the issue of high-speed internet in hilly terrains.

Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali raised concerns about the quality of calls in Chitral.

He noted that while calls were now being received, the quality of audio remained poor.

Federal Minister Haque stressed the need for telecom companies to improve their services and warned them of stricter penalties if they failed to do so.

Additionally, the committee summoned the FIA Cyber Crime Wing Karachi officials at its next meeting to provide the details of the complaints they had received.

According to judicial and prosecution officials, 1,500 complaints, inquiries or investigations were lodged by the public with the Cyber Crime Reporting Cell (CCRC) of the FIA in Karachi during the year 2021.

The CCRC additional director of the FIA said the number of complaints, inquiries or investigations pending probes because of the lack of submission of investigation reports was 1,500 just in Karachi.

The statistics compiled by a non-profit organisation, Digital Rights Foundation, suggested that its helpline had received around 1,500 public complaints from all over the country pertaining to the misuse of the complainants’ personal data -- including pictures or videos, etc -- during the year 2021.

(With input from agencies)