Islamabad, July 05, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was held on Thursday. Chaired by Senator Rubina Khalid, the meeting was attended by Senator Abdul R. Malik, Senator Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, Senator Sana Jamali and senior officers from the Ministry of IT, Ministry of Law and Justice and the FIA.
The meeting commenced with discussion on the implementation status of recommendations made by the Committee in its earlier meeting regarding payment of increased pension and other allowances to the pensioners of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP). Secretary IT briefed the Committee about the issue and stated that pay scale 2015 and 2016 were to be adopted and a raise in pension was to be given to TIP pensioners from the year 2016. He further stated that all payments were made from the date announced by the govt of Pakistan up to 30 June, 2018. A total payment of 84.952 million was made in both heads. Chairperson Committee, Senator Rubina Khalid on behalf of all Members, lauded the Ministry for the compliance and said that a huge milestone in this regard has been achieved.
While discussing the rules that were formalized to deal with electronic crimes and its ambit, Chairperson Committee, Senator Khalid gave directions that a Sub-Committee be formed under Secretary IT to gain consensus of all stakeholders. She also instructed that a draft of the rules be sent to Members of the Committee in advance, so that it can be reviewed in greater detail.
Regarding the issue of International Clearing House Exchange (ICH), Senator Malik enquired about the agreement it was created under and those that benefitted from it. He further questioned the reasons for it being scrapped and stressed the need to calculate losses and review it via an international auditing company after which a comprehensive report be submitted to the Committee.
Chairperson Committee, Senator Khalid suggested that since numerous simultaneous issues are confronted by the Committee of Interior and Committee of IT, a joint meeting to resolve issues permanently would be beneficial. It was suggested that legislation must be enhanced to deal with these issues effectively.
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