Punjab Commission For Status Of Women Arranges Consultation On Cyber Crimes & Laws In Pakistan

Punjab Commission for Status of Women (PCSW) arranged a "Consultation on Cyber Crimes and Laws in Pakistan" on Thursday.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2018 ) :Punjab Commission for Status of Women (PCSW) arranged a "Consultation on Cyber Crimes and Laws in Pakistan" on Thursday.

Prominent officials from FIA, Police and civil society organisations -- Digital Rights Foundations, Shirkat Gah, Social Welfare, Women Development Department -- and others were present at the consultation, which centered on the progress and procedure of cyber harassment redress in Punjab and the role of PCSW in the redress process.

According to a press release issued here, the consultation opened with an overview of PCSW, role in the resolution of cyber complaints on a priority basis in Punjab. Cyber Crime is a menace that destroys lives. Currently, someone's identity is stolen every three seconds as a result of Cyber Crimes.

The PCSW has entered into collaboration with FIA to support early redress efforts by the FIA. We are confident that this partnership will play a major role in combating cyber harassment in Punjab.

Chairperson PCSW Ms Fauzia Viqar and representative of FIA Assistant Director Wasif Jawad expressed their views also.

The FIA officials shared that since January 2018 up till August 2018, approximately 4,000 complaints related to cyber crime have been registered in and total 10 officials are working on them for redressal.

The PCSW shared that they launched media campaign regarding cyber crime and protection of women, hence within a month total 1181 complaints registered on PCSW Helpline 1043, upon 1116 have been addressed while 65 complaints referred to FIA and inquires are under proceedings.

Lastly suggestions, recommendations for further improvements related to cyber redress mechanisms were shared by the participants.

That the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the countries concerned should be signed by Pakistan through Interior Ministry of Pakistan. Verification and inquiry process of FIA should be sped up for early redress, as well as hiring of more staff to the FIA in cyber cell.

The Police Department should also be kept in loop regarding cyber crimes. Trainings regarding gender sensitization as well as security settings of mobile, social media devices for FIA, police officials as well as for general public should be organised on regular basis. As part of larger collaboration, efforts between the Federal Investigating Agency and PCSW, it is hoped that interaction between their respective members and civil society will pave the way towards development and empowerment of women in Punjab.