PTA had its hands tied up since long, when it came to regulating content on the websites in Pakistan. But not for long. According to sources, PTA may be given authority to block hate material and blasphemous content on the internet and the social media. An official summary will be required by the PM in order to go with this plan. This has been conceived as part of the National Action Plan to combat terrorism. A summary has already been received by Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, for the disintegration of the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC), which was responsible for monitoring objectionable and blasphemous content from the Ministry of Information Technology. The IMC was responsible for banning You Tube in Pakistan during the tenure of Pakistan People’s Party.
The minister of IT, Anusha Rehman, had confirmed that the summary had been moved to give PTA powers for the regulation of content on the internet. According to some of the officials of PTA, the PTA Act needed to be modified, as according to the current Act they didn’t have much power to undertake the internet content management. The government sources however stated that the MoIT approval negated the requirement of changing the Act.[junkie-alert style=”white”] PTA had limited power when it came to managing content on the internet[/junkie-alert]
Currently the PTA has the following powers stated by the current law:
- Regulation, provision, establishment, operations and maintenance of telecom systems
- Managing applications for use of radio frequency spectrum
- Promoting high quality telecom services
- Modernize telecom systems and services
- Investigate complaints and claims against alleged infringements
- Recommend policies to the government regarding international telecommunications
- Support participation in international meeting and agreements for international routing of traffic
- Perform any other assigned tasks by Federal government
Sources state, that the creation of a separate cell within PTA was suggested under the current circumstances to oversee the important task of managing content on the internet. After the receiving a formal response from the concerned authority, PTA will receive a directive from the ministry to create this cell under the jurisdiction.