Internet speed improved, NA told

Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja acknowledged on Wednesday the challenges vis-a-vis internet speed, but stressed that the government was trying its best to minimise any sort of inconvenience to the users.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Khawaja said that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was an autonomous body under the Cabinet Division. She also acknowledged that the microblogging website of X had been closed because "inappropriate language is used against us" on it.

"The X platform was closed by the PTA on the advice of the Interior Ministry and the IT ministry has no concern with it," she said, while replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour. "X is used by just 2% people in Pakistan," she added.

The minister stressed that there was no question of the restrictions on expression or freedom of speech. "If the government was interested in restricting the freedom of speech it would have banned [other] social platforms like Facebook and Tiktok which are more popular and used in Pakistan."

Khawaja emphasised that nothing was more important than national security. "Security is a big problem. We have to protect the country from cyber-attacks and data leaks. We cannot compromise on national security; therefore, we have to improve our cyber-security," she told the house.

She acknowledged that internet users in Pakistan were facing problems because of "various technical reasons". However, she added, that internet speed had improved by 28% and mobile internet by 24%."On the back of improved internet speed, our IT exports have increased by 34% in last five months.

She also addressed the issue of internet closure. Earlier, the internet was shut down in the entire country during Ashura days, but this year the closure was in limited areas due to effective use of the latest technology.

She informed the house that the internet speed frequency was 274megahertz (MHz), which had been increased to 550MHz, adding: "We are going to offer 4G and 5G spectrum in April." She said: "We try to minimise inconvenience to the users."

The minister stressed that the cabinet stood behind the IT ministry. She also said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had distributed around 1.1 million laptops to ensure process in the digitisation. She also hinted at a policy to introduce smartphones in easy instalments.

Forensic agency

Meanwhile, the National Forensic Agency Bill 2024 was approved by the National Assembly, after dropping the objections raised by Shazia Marri of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar assured that the government would not oppose if the PPP brought its amendment bill.

Tarar said that the bill had been passed by the Senate. He said it was very important to have forensic science techniques in the country, adding that the legislation would establish a forensic science laboratory in the federal capital.

Marri said that the bill had certain some shortcomings. She pointed out that the bill stipulated a fine of Rs100,000 and on-year jail term of an official in case of deliberate misuse of authority. The fine should be at least Rs1 million, she suggested.

Secondly, she said, the word prime minister was mentioned only at one place, which could create problems in future. She proposed that fines in the bill should be increased to Rs500,000. Later, on Tarar's assurances, the bill was passed.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)