The Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh, has significant presence in Pakistan through a website managed by terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Amid confusion and a struggle to remove legislative lacuna to deal with cyber crime-related issues, relevant authorities are reluctant to block the terrorist groups’ propaganda website — which, according to security analysts, is also being used as a launching pad by the Daesh and al Qaeda.
An announcement by the TTP spokesperson can still be accessed on the website through which the terrorist group declared war against Pakistan. The group also claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December, 2014.
Officials tend to blame each other for their inability to disable the website. Currently, a cyber crime wing is functional in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), while a vigilance cell is also operating in Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA),which exclusively deals with such violations with the assistance of its IP wing. However, officials in these wings are not ready to block the website, citing some judicial and administrative hurdles.
The website carries the TTP flag, verses from the Holy Quran, jihadi songs, statements and videos containing sectarian hate and propaganda material — especially against security forces. It also has pictures of slain TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his successor, and incumbent chief, Mullah Fazlullah.
Referring to a controversy, PTA’s senior official Abdul Samad said an NGO, Bolo Bhi, which works for the rights of internet users, took the authority to the Islamabad High Court, which restrained the Inter-Ministerial Committee from functioning. The committee decides if a website should be accessed or blocked in Pakistan.
In response to a question, he said an IP wing is still functional in the authority. The PTA official said the NGO had challenged the legal position of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Evaluation of Websites (IMCEW) on blocking websites, and questioned the transparency of the committee’s working. The dormant committee has the representation of the interior ministry, PTA, ministry of IT and others to take appropriate action.
The PTA official could not give any details of the defunct committee. Relevant officials in the FIA, PTA, interior ministry and information ministry don’t know where the inter-ministerial committee sits, who the members are, the merit the members are chosen on, how they work, its postal/email address, how they evaluate the blockade of websites, where the list of blocked websites are and why they were blocked, and how to get a website unblocked.
However, in the same case, PTA chairman Ismail Shah recently told the court that the authority had blocked 64,000 websites, of which 50,000 pertain to pornography and the remaining relate to blasphemy.
Mudassir Hussain, member Telecom from IT, requested the court to revisit its earlier order in which it had restrained the authority from blocking any website without approval of the court. He said that the ministry is receiving many complaints against certain websites, and he requested the court to allow their blockage.
On the other hand, Bolo Bhi’s counsel Babar Sattar argued that the workings of the committee had been non-transparent and dubious. He maintained that policy is not a law through which websites had been blocked. Further, he argued that the government can move to stop anything in future. He added that if the government is interested in blocking websites, it should introduce a law in this respect. Otherwise, such policy directives were illegal.
State Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said that the cyber crimes bill 2015 (Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill) is being thoroughly reviewed in order to make it consistent with the National Action Plan (NAP). This is so that it can cater to the growing needs of the drastically changing and challenging scenario in the wake of an increase in terrorism in the cyber space, said Rehman.
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