Pakistan Awami Tehreek challenges Cyber Crime Bill in the Lahore High Court

The Cyber Crime Bill or more formally, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill has been challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) by an opposition party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), today.

Citing three sections of the Cyber Crime Bill to be in conflict with the basic human rights as defined by the constitution of Pakistan, the Deputy Secretary General PAT Ishtiaq Chaudry filed an application against the said bill in the Lahore High Court. PAT mentioned that three sections, the section 10, the section 18 and the section 32 conflict with the human rights as guaranteed by the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

It is worth noting that the section 10 of the Cyber Crime Bill is on the Cyber Terrorism, the section 18 on acts against the dignity of a citizen, and the section 32 corresponds to the power of officials.

Yasser Lateef Hamdani, a lawyer, pointed out that providing such tremendous powers to PTA is not right. He further mentioned that corresponding judges need to have complete knowledge of the privileges and powers of the Cyber Crime Bill of Pakistan.

The controversial Cyber Crime Bill of Pakistan was approved by the National Assembly of Pakistan a few months back. The bill received vehement opposition especially through the social media. After approval from the National Assembly, the Bill was moved to Senate which approved it in amended form. After approval from the Senate, the Cyber Crime Bill was again moved to the National Assembly which approved it yesterday. There is also an online application, petitioning the Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan, against the Cyber Crime Bill, up and running at Change.org.

Source —BBC Urdu