Voicing concerns: Committee formed to prevent cybercrime bill from being enacted

Speakers criticise the bill and term it the ‘Cyber Talibanisation Bill’.

KARACHI: After an extensive discussion at Karachi Press Club, experts and journalists formed a ‘Cybercrime Bill Review Committee’ that will hold briefings for senators and parliamentarians.

The purpose of the committee is to prevent the bill from being passed as a law.

The committee comprises international expert on cybercrime Zahid Jamil, Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship founder and chairperson Afaque Riaz Ahmed, and journalists Nazir Laghari, Hina Mahgul Rind, Manzoor Chandio, Fazil Jameeli, AH Khanzada and Saeed Khawar.

“Ninety per cent of this law is to censure journalists, media and content,” said Jamil. “This will be the worst cybercrime law in the world if it is passed.”

The speakers were of the opinion that if passed, the law will make life easier for terrorists and protect them while it will make life harder for journalists. They also termed it the ‘Cyber Talibanisation Bill’.



They stressed that it will be the death of journalism because it will require journalists to acquire written consent of the people that they take pictures of even if it consists of thousands of people in a public gathering.

Moreover, journalists will also have to acquire written consent from any source that they call, message, email or contact via any digital media. This also applies to people who are not journalists.

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