Islamabad, 16th October, 2019: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence held today at 12:00 noon. in Committee Room No. 7, Parliament House, Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Mr. Amjid Ali Khan, MNA. Mr. Pervez Khattak, Minister for Defence also attended the meeting.
 
2. Secretaries, M/o Interior, Information Technology & Telecommunication, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), DGs, National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were invited to brief the Committee on Cyber Crimes related issues.
 
3. While briefing, the Committee observed that there is lack of liaison/coordination between all the above Departments regarding Cyber Crimes related issues. The Committee directed the M/o Interior to collect information from Federal and Provincial Departments on the said issues and submit a comprehensive progress report in the next meeting of the Committee. The Chairman, PTA apprised the Committee that under Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, the Authority have the power to remove or block or issue directions for removal or blocking of access to an information through any information system if it considers it necessary in the interest of the glory of Islam, integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court or commission of or incitement to an offence. The Committee directed that all the concerned departments should take prompt action on zero tolerance against the culprits who posted blasphemous material and any kind of anti-state contents on the social media.
 
4. The Committee considered “The Joint Maritime Information Organization Bill, 2019” and after detailed discussion and deliberations the Committee unanimously passed the said Bill. The Committee also unanimously confirmed the minutes of its previous meeting held on 9th October, 2019.
 
5. The meeting was attended by the MNAs namely, Mr. Tahir Sadiq, Syed Faiz Ul Hassan, Ms. Kanwal Shauzab, Mr. Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Syed Amin ul Haq, Ms. Rubina Irfan, Ch. Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Mr. Riaz ul Haq, Mr. Muhammad Khan Daha, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Mr. Aftab Shaban Mirani and Mir Amer Ali Khan Magsi. The meeting was also attended by senior officers from M/o Interior, M/o IT&T, M/o Law & Justice, NACTA, FIA and PTA.