Pasha Members Not Happy with Proposed Amendments in PECO

Raja Kamran

Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES (P@SHA) seems active in press and blogs for quite few months but its members often complain about their unawareness association activities and programs as one of the issue raised recently when few of its members said that they have not been consulted on the proposed amendments in Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO)

Pasha executive committee did not consult with us but it followed the instructions of an American funded organization, some of the PASHA members said. Pasha is scheduled to propose amendment in the meeting with National Assembly Selective Committee in next few days.

PASHA members said that they came to know through media about any new draft law was launched by PASHA because office barrier did not bother to discuss this bill with stakeholders of the industry.

“We have serious concerns about what they proposed in draft bill. If this bill becomes act Pakistan will become the hub of pornography and other non ethical activities will become rampant,” a PASHA member who wished not to be named said.

We are consulting with other members on this issue and will raise the voice against the some parts of the bill in organization particularly the issue of morality through censorship on internet, he added.

In Europe and US we see many immoral activities are committed on internet. In many cases adults are punished very hard to spoil minors by sending erotic martial. This will be the part of the law and we will struggle to add this in new draft bill.

The proposed draft bill on PECO was prepared by Jamil and Jamil associates a law firm working in Pakistan. In this bill Erotic and other moral crimes related issues omitted.

PASHA executive committee stance is “The old law was weakly structured, draconian law that will be ineffective at best and at worst, a direct threat to civil liberties of freedom of speech, intellectual property rights and to foreign investment in Pakistan. PECO needs structural changes in the form of clear and correct definitions of terms and crimes, safeguards for individual privacy and business continuity, and the inclusion of more relevant cyber crimes.

Legal community also feels uneasy with this proposed bill PECO. They say that the drafting the law by those who’s financial and commercial benefits were directly involve will be one sided. And PASHA draft bill is an example.

The advocate of Sindh High Court Anjum Ahmed said that in the PASHA version of PECO all the efforts were made to safe themselves. They prohibited to confiscate the tool which is used in any cyber of electronic crime is the main obstacle in justice.

We all know that forensic investigation needed to establish any crime. If only copy of server of computer data allowed criminals could hide files and data and not able to copy on other devices, he added.

Raja Kamran is a senior journalist possessing a wealth of experience in print and broadcast journalism.