• Islamabad IGP to head five-member panel tasked with ‘identifying and prosecuting’ culprits
• Experts doubt move will yield desired results
• Govt cautions departments against possible cyber attacks

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has established a five-member joint investigation team — headed by the Islamabad police chief — to “identify and prosecute the culprits” who are using social media platforms to create chaos and disorder in the country through “malicious” online campaigns.

According to the notification shared by the interior ministry, the JIT has been constituted under Section 30 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 and includes the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime director, the FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing director, Islamabad DIG (Investigation), and the Islamabad police SSP (CTD). The panel can also co-opt any other person as a member.

As per the terms of reference of the JIT, the five-member body will “investigate and determine the organised objectives of the accused and their accomplices who have created chaos and disorder in Pakistan through malicious social media campaign”. It will also identify and prosecute the “culprits” in accordance with the applicable laws. The notification said that the Islamabad police headquarters will provide secretarial support to the JIT.

The formation of the JIT came as a crackdown on social media is in full swing and the government is also planning to install a firewall to block access to ‘controversial content’. Last week, the police and the FIA had arrested PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan under the Peca law for allegedly running an online anti-state campaign.

Speaking to Dawn, media expert Aftab Alam said there were 120 million internet users in Pakistan which would make the task ‘complicated’. “Some people will be identified but 100 per cent result cannot be achieved,” he said, adding that the government will need to educate people because blocking [measures] has always proved to be counterproductive.

In reply to a question, he said social media cannot be controlled even through a firewall as VPNs can be used to bypass this firewall. Mr Alam further said, “Such JITs cannot get 100pc results or success because it is very difficult to identify people [online]. Similarly, it will be difficult to identify if a person is in Pakistan or abroad,” he added.

“However the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) law has extraterritorial jurisdiction so the government can approach some other country in case of having a bilateral agreement. It is a good effort to show that someone is investigating and it will create fear that a person can be caught,” he said while commenting on the JIT formed under Peca.

Another expert, on the condition of anonymity, told Dawn that 99 per cent of the people will easily be able to evade the JIT as the authorities would be able to identify only those who have a prominent role. According to the expert, social media platforms, such as Facebook and ‘X’, will be apprehensive about sharing data of their users with the Pakistani authorities due to their concerns about human rights.

It may be noted that the army spokesperson earlier this month said that there were ‘digital terrorists’ who were creating a false narrative against the army and its leadership on social media using tools, such as cell phones, computers, falsehood, and propaganda.

A few days after the press conference of the army spokesperson, PTI founder Imran Khan regretted how certain individuals with no understanding of social media were dishing out “digital terrorism” labels.

Phishing emails

Meanwhile, the federal government has warned the departments and divisions under the federal ministries as well as the provincial governments against possible cyber attacks by hackers to steal official data. According to the letter sent to the departments by the Cabinet Division, government officers were being targeted through different WhatsApp numbers and phishing emails.

“The attacker is using various mobile numbers and emails with fake domains to send different messages while attempting to launch a cyber attack through malware. The attacker sends remote access tools (RAT) files in RAR format for accessing the devices,” it stated.

“All departments may kindly instruct their officers and staff not to download any files received from the aforementioned WhatsApp numbers or any unknown numbers/emails to protect their data,” it stated.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2024