The government and civil-military establishment, our rulers, are clearly moving ahead with confidence. They have defeated the opposition/public. Parliament has become a rubber stamp. They have tamed the judiciary. Electronic media is already under their control. But there is one force where, despite all efforts, victory has not been achieved completely. Arrangements have been made for that too. This force of cybersecurity and cyber disinformation is next on the cards.
It has been speculated that there is discussion of forming a National Forensic Cyber Crime Agency. This agency will investigate cyber crime. It will have a central coordination role. It will be headed by a director general who will have expertise in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and IT-related matters. Senior bureaucrats will be on the board of this agency. That is, the Secretary of Law, the Treasury Establishment, and the IG of Police will be there. Representatives of intelligence agencies, that is, IB, MI, and ISI, will monitor it. The decisions of the agency cannot be challenged in any court or government. This is a very scary point that seems to be against the basic rights. Earlier news came regarding the law of cyber electronic crimes in our country, PECA, 2016; an amendment is being made in which there is a proposal to make the punishments more severe; that is, now if crimes are committed and proven, then you can be put in jail for 7 years, and a fine of up to 20 lakhs will also be imposed. Similarly, the idea of forming another authority is coming up, like earlier we have less bureaucracy, and it seems that it would function as Digital Rights Protection Authority, it is not a joke and the main purpose of this Authority seems to be to censor social media, that is, it will have the authority to do the work which was being done till now by PTA, Pakistan Telecommunication authority that whenever it wants it can close any account, close any platform, these people will determine the truth and lie, and it is obvious that the people who will sit in it will also be backed by the government or the establishment, so it seems that it is being called national forensic and cybercrime agency, but it seems that it is to protect the system and safeguard the interests of the establishment because amongst its functions is that you will not be able to criticize judges, generals, bureaucrats and if you do so then jail and hefty fine will be your fate along with legal troubles.