PPP won't back telecom bill with 'draconian clauses': Sherry

ISLAMABAD:

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday said her party would not allow any legislation related to the IT sector, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), or right of way (RWA) to pass through the Senate unless it was thoroughly scrutinised and amended by the relevant standing committee.

"For the record, PPP in the Senate will not be passing ANY IT/PTA/RWA legislation which is not thoroughly discussed threadbare in the Standing Committee of Senate with our deletions assured in the final bill," Sherry said in a post on X.

The National Assembly (NA) passed the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 on June 11. The Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom has since reviewed it and deferred further consideration for clause-by-clause scrutiny.

Sherry said the bill transmitted by the NA had been stopped in the Senate because it "still contained draconian clauses we had repeatedly asked to be removed, especially 27A." The section deals with rights of way for telecommunications infrastructure. The senator also raised concerns about related provisions, including Section 27B, which allowed the government to impose fines of up to Rs50 million for obstructing or delaying the grant of such rights.

According to Sherry, party members in the NA had been informed that the controversial provisions had been removed before the NA passed the legislation. "Our NA members were told these have been removed when the bill was moved there," she wrote, adding that while some objectionable provisions had been deleted, "all were still not deleted when the bill was transmitted to us in the Upper House".