[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]ISLAMABAD: The absence of ministers from Senate sessions has become so consistent that treasury senators, along with opposition senators, demanded on Friday that the chairman take note of the situation.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, who was presiding over the upper house of parliament’s proceedings, assured the lawmakers that he would raise this issue with the prime minister.
During Question Period, PPP Senator Rubina Khalid stated that the government appeared helpless in dealing with blasphemous and derogatory content on the internet.
She went on to say that the issue had been raised several times during Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology meetings and that it was the responsibility of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take action against such content.
Shahadat Awan, Minister of State for Law and Justice, responded that online hate speech against any religion would be immediately blocked.
Awan went on to say that around 35,000 Facebook pages and over 5,000 Twitter handles had been blocked.
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He also stated that 5,800 YouTube accounts had been blocked.
He also informed the House that the current government was working on legislation that would require social media platforms to register in Pakistan.
He went on to say that the prime minister formed a National Social Working Committee in August of last year to propose appropriate legislation for this purpose.
According to Awan, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has so far processed 59,253 URLs related to sectarian or hate speech complaints on social media.
He added that, as of February, 47,674 URLs had been blocked due to hate speech complaints.
According to the state minister, the PTA had also blocked Wikipedia for 48 hours on the high court’s orders.
Awan explained that under Section 37 (1) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, the PTA was empowered to remove or block access to information via any system if it deemed it necessary in the interest of Pakistan’s integrity, security, or defence.
He went on to say that the federal government had approved the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight, and Safeguard), Rules, 2021 under Section 37 (2) of Peca.
Dr Asif Kimani of the PML-N drew the chairman’s attention to the empty front row, regretting that the absence of ministers indicated their lack of interest in Senate proceedings.
Awan informed him that a few ministers were preoccupied and would be unable to attend the Senate session.
An enraged Kirmani asked him that the senators had no other business to attend to that they were participating in the proceedings.
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The Petroleum Act 1934 Amendment Bill 2022 and Trade Disputes Resolution Bill 2023 were presented in the House.
Both the bills were sent to their respective standing committees.
Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman informed the Senate that electrical vehicles were very expensive and any ordinary person could not import them.
She noted that India’s Tata company was locally manufacturing electrical vehicles.
However, she added that unfortunately in Pakistan, there existed no such facility to manufacture electrical vehicles or batteries.
She informed the House that in Pakistan, a policy for electrical two and three-wheelers had been framed.
The minister said around 3.3 million tons of plastic waste was generated in Pakistan but its recycling facility was available in a few European countries only.
To another question, she said the prime minister had launched the “Protected Areas Initiative” to improve flora and fauna of 15 places extending over 7,500 square kilometres.
The Senate session was adjourned till 11am on Monday.
After the conclusion of the sitting, Sanjrani called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to inform him about the absence of ministers from the Senate proceedings and ensure their presence.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
