Govt decision: FIA to be relieved of cybercrime probe

Lack of expertise to handle the complex job cited as reason.

ISLAMABAD: As a parliamentary panel is going to take up an important legislation matter on Thursday (today), the government has agreed to exclude cybercrime investigation from the purview of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Official sources cited the lack of professional skills among FIA sleuths as the main reason behind the move. FIA men are not properly trained to handle the complex and intricate forms of cybercrime, the sources said, adding there were chances of the proposed legislation being misused. Training would be imparted to judges to deal with such cases in regular courts.



The government has also signalled its willingness not to give intelligence agencies carte blanche in doing surveillance in the name of national security. After due consultation certain limitations are likely to be placed on top spying agencies in a bill tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Khwaja Karim on cybercrime.

The development comes in light of the suggestions given by top parliamentarians to the information technology ministry.

During a discussion on the bill on Wednesday at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentarians Services (PIPS), a specific case of a journalist was discussed who was harassed by FIA officials in the name of cybercrime for his news story.  At the event, PPP leader Senator Farhatullah Babar said there should be ‘minimum exceptions and exclusions’ for intelligence agencies.

A procedure, he stated, should be defined for intelligence surveillance, adding that currently there is no law which could empower the regulator to take action against any specific domain.

While citing Edward Snowden’s revelations regarding US surveillance, Babar said, “This cyber warfare is a big threat to Pakistan’s security.”

Explaining the reason for omitting FIA from the cybercrime bill, Member Legal in IT Ministry Amina Sohail told The Express Tribune that the government should assign this investigation to an independent agency or establish a separate cell in the FIA for the purpose.

She said IT ministry’s focus is prevention of electronic crimes, while cyber security issue should be dealt with separately, adding that this legislation would focus on special areas. Laws which already existed in the PPC and CrPC would not be repeated through this process.

It is true, Amina Sohail stated, that we don’t have ownership of .pk domain but the government would take its ownership from an individual who is not residing in the United States. The domain of ‘Pakistan’ (in Urdu) would also be the property of the government, she added.

PPP lawmaker Khawaja Karim had moved a bill for the prevention of cybercrimes around a year ago.  While addressing a conference organised to discuss this bill, he alleged that the ruling PML-N was not in favour of this legislation mainly because it was moved by a PPP lawmaker. He offered to give ownership of this bill to the government.

Muhammad Aslam Wasim, additional director legislation at PIPS, pointing out the lacuna in the legislation, said in the proposed bill’s section 7 says that a person found guilty in cyber terrorism would face 14 years imprisonment and penalty up to Rs15 million, while the section 34 suggests that this crime is compoundable and non-cognisable.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2015.