ISLAMABAD – Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication(MoITT) has approached the Interior Ministry to finalize viewpoint on thematter of signing the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and BudapestConvention with the United States of America (USA), which allows theexchange of evidence and information in cybercrimes.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is facing numerous hardships inobtaining data of alleged cyber-criminals from the US government as thefederal government is yet to sign MLAT as well as the cybercrimes clause ofBudapest Convention.
MLAT generally allows exchange of evidence and information in criminal andother related matters. The MLAT is negotiated by the Department of State incooperation with the Department of Justice to facilitate cooperation incriminal matters. Around 61 countries have signed MLAT with the USAincluding India, Malaysia and Turkey, revealed the documents.
Contrary to India and most of the Middle East countries, Pakistan has noaccess to cybercrime data due to the absence of MLAT with the US where thedata resides, obstructing in controlling cybercrimes. Due to thisagreement, New Delhi is able to get access to objectionable content within24 hours.
Previously, the FIA Cyber Crime Wing was dealing with cybercrime casesunder the Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002 under sections 36 & 37. ThePrevention of Electronic Crime Act was notified in 2016 and FIA wasdesignated as the agency to implement the Act from November 8, 2018onwards. However, the Cyber Crime Wing of FIA is facing several issuesincluding non-provision of social media/web-mail service data i.e. Twitter,Whatsapp, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Snapchat, etc.
Read Top Stories
The PECA Law 2016 is also being considered as a big hindrance as only 4sections are cognizable, while sections 10 (cyber-terrorism), 21 (modestyof natural person), 22 (child pornography), 17 (illegal issuance of SIM, onthe complaint of PTA) and the rest of punishable sections arenon-cognizable, bailable and compoundable. Furthermore, the defamation ofstate institutions is not covered under PECA.
Official sources revealed that MoITT has taken the matter of MLAT with theMinistry of Interior and Federal investigation Agency (FIA). The MoITT haswritten a letter to FIA along with lists of signatories of the MLAT(Budapest Convention), with the request to furnish a report regardingimprovements after signing the treaty.
Furthermore, as the matter pertains to international cooperation withrespect to investigations and law enforcement, therefore Ministry ofInterior may finalize the viewpoint in consultation with all stakeholdersand share it with MoITT for further process.
