EDITORIAL (July 21 2009): The government's principal outfit tasked to enforce cyber crime laws, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), has clarified that it is not monitoring each and every text message sent through SMS. It said it would come into action only after receiving a complaint from an individual who received an "indecent or provocative message".
The clarification seems to be an exercise in defusing the mounting criticism by civil society, media and political parties who say the interior ministry's threat to keep a tab on interpersonal communication, through cell phones, amounts to the censorship of free flow of ideas and a curb on their right to engage in a debate over the performance of the government and institutions.
As the FIA was clarifying its position, vis-a-vis the Interior Ministry's move to criminalize people's freedom, on Sunday evening Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was telling journalists that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had acted on his own 'without consulting the Cabinet'. On whose behalf then the minister was acting, the prime minister did not say, or didn't want to say, but insisted that 'nobody is sending anything against me'.
As to who was the main target of the 'offending SMS', the Interior Minister did not indicate except for his omnibus expression that it was "civilian leadership and security forces". Looking tough he had warned that any one found guilty of running afoul of his order would go behind bars for 14 years - a punishment equal to what the condemned for attempted murder receive.
Isn't it ironic that the minister of a government that came into power, riding the wave of people's power, should criminalize their universally recognised and constitutionally protected freedom and right to comment on political leaders' life and activities, which are in the public domain?
After all, what else do most of the newspaper columnists and cartoonists do, if they do not scrutinise the governments performance and actions of the rulers. As for the leaders' non-public life and privacy, they have the right of privacy and protection against public exposure under the Pakistan Penal Code and other laws pertaining to defamation and libel.
It is also a moot point whether the FIA, or any other agency within the country, is geared to monitor each of the tens of millions of SMS messages that are sent and received everyday. Furthermore, it is essentially a communication between two individuals, which should escape scrutiny, except in very special cases, for which there is the Pakistan Electronic Crime Ordinance, 2008, which provides adequate coverage to take care of the cyber crime.
Is not it indeed intriguing that a federal minister should engage in bombast which evokes nothing but public derision and laughter? What does he mean by "ill-motivated" stories that should earn the sender and the receiver 14 years hard labour in jail? One may ask which law is violated if someone tries at preparing the electorate to vote out a sitting government.
Dissent is the essence of democracy and to differ and disagree is the basic right of an individual in a democratic society. If the people are discussing and debating the quality of the present leadership by exchanging SMS messages, what is the problem? Then there is the question of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
If the Interior Minister didn't have the blessings of the prime minister and consent of the Cabinet on this highly sensitive issue, how come he ordered a major amendment to the law on his own? Such an act contravenes the principle of collective responsibility of the government. And it also suggests that the government lacks cohesion.
The clarification seems to be an exercise in defusing the mounting criticism by civil society, media and political parties who say the interior ministry's threat to keep a tab on interpersonal communication, through cell phones, amounts to the censorship of free flow of ideas and a curb on their right to engage in a debate over the performance of the government and institutions.
As the FIA was clarifying its position, vis-a-vis the Interior Ministry's move to criminalize people's freedom, on Sunday evening Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was telling journalists that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had acted on his own 'without consulting the Cabinet'. On whose behalf then the minister was acting, the prime minister did not say, or didn't want to say, but insisted that 'nobody is sending anything against me'.
As to who was the main target of the 'offending SMS', the Interior Minister did not indicate except for his omnibus expression that it was "civilian leadership and security forces". Looking tough he had warned that any one found guilty of running afoul of his order would go behind bars for 14 years - a punishment equal to what the condemned for attempted murder receive.
Isn't it ironic that the minister of a government that came into power, riding the wave of people's power, should criminalize their universally recognised and constitutionally protected freedom and right to comment on political leaders' life and activities, which are in the public domain?
After all, what else do most of the newspaper columnists and cartoonists do, if they do not scrutinise the governments performance and actions of the rulers. As for the leaders' non-public life and privacy, they have the right of privacy and protection against public exposure under the Pakistan Penal Code and other laws pertaining to defamation and libel.
It is also a moot point whether the FIA, or any other agency within the country, is geared to monitor each of the tens of millions of SMS messages that are sent and received everyday. Furthermore, it is essentially a communication between two individuals, which should escape scrutiny, except in very special cases, for which there is the Pakistan Electronic Crime Ordinance, 2008, which provides adequate coverage to take care of the cyber crime.
Is not it indeed intriguing that a federal minister should engage in bombast which evokes nothing but public derision and laughter? What does he mean by "ill-motivated" stories that should earn the sender and the receiver 14 years hard labour in jail? One may ask which law is violated if someone tries at preparing the electorate to vote out a sitting government.
Dissent is the essence of democracy and to differ and disagree is the basic right of an individual in a democratic society. If the people are discussing and debating the quality of the present leadership by exchanging SMS messages, what is the problem? Then there is the question of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
If the Interior Minister didn't have the blessings of the prime minister and consent of the Cabinet on this highly sensitive issue, how come he ordered a major amendment to the law on his own? Such an act contravenes the principle of collective responsibility of the government. And it also suggests that the government lacks cohesion.
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