ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs, Barrister Zafarullah Khan on Tuesday said that cyber crime bill will be tabled in Parliament for final approval soon.

“We have completed our deliberations on cyber crime bill and after consultation the bill will be tabled in parliament in a week or two,” Khan said while talking to media after attending inaugural session of the conference organized by PTA along with an INGO and funded by all major telecom operators of the country.

Answering a question about the reservations of civil society, he said during the consultation process all the objections of the stakeholders have been addressed, except one.

“There was one point which could not be agreed and that was article 34, so we have told them to bring something similar to it, but they have not submitted any suggestion yet,” Advisor said.

Section 34 copies Article 19 of the Constitution. “If it considers it necessary in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality,” is the section which has been widely criticised by NGOs.

The government, on other side,  argues that objecting to this section actually amounts to objecting to the constitutional provision and under present extreme law and order issues, this section was mandatory.

Cyber Crime Bill 2015 was drafted after the Peshawar massacre, where more than 100 minor students were killed brutally inside Army school, last December.

In January 2015, the Ministry of IT submitted the bill to the National Assembly for voting. However, it was referred to the standing committee to address concerns raised by the opposition members and stakeholders from the industry.

Since then it has been revolving in different departments and had been discussed many times at standing committees. Architects of the bill believe the delay is to make it more meaningful.

“I remember in one night we drafted a law and in the morning it was imposed. It was law against kite flying, but for this bill, we, with the approval of Prime Minister we have for worked months and held so many deliberations and consultations just to take all stakeholders on board,” Advisor said.