A newspaper in Pakistan has reported that the government is moving to set up a special court to deal with cyber crime and disputes, an emergency unit to counter cyber attacks against Pakistan’s interests and what it calls a “cyber authority.”

Announcement of the plan, written about in a recent issue of Dawn, is attributed to a source in the prime minister’s secretariat. “The cyber authority and court are part of a larger plan to amend numerous laws through the Electronic Documents and Prevention of Cybercrimes Act, 2014.”

“This consolidates and updates the different laws that are applicable to information technology or cyber activity in an all-encompassing piece of law to combat crime and to promote electronic and computerized businesses through legal documents, e-signatures, etc,” the newspaper reported.

“In today’s day and age, cyber-crimes are present, if not rampant, around the world since it involves the internet, and Pakistan is no exception to this,” says Seema S Mansoor, a senior associate at Vellani & Vellani in Karachi. “In fact, Pakistan is making every effort to counter all kinds of crimes by introducing new laws and amending the existing laws and implementing the same. This would seem to be a general view, and the proposed law would be an evolution to strengthen Pakistan’s laws covering new aspects.”

Dawn reports that the 30-page draft law – with 77 sections and two schedules of offences, punishments, facilities and technologies to be covered – is expected to be taken up by Pakistan’s cabinet soon. “The draft law covers cyber crime, terrorism and crimes against the state committed with the aid of modern technology.”

The law will amend various criminal laws, as well as laws including the Pakistan Telecommunication Reorganisation Act of 1996, the Qanune- Shahadat law of 1984 (which governs the law related with evidence in the law courts of Pakistan) and the Criminal Procedures Code, 1898.

If implemented, the new law will establish the Cyber Authority of Pakistan, comprised of five representatives from the private sector and two from the government.

“The cyber authority will be assisted by a number of teams such as Cyber Emergency Response Team, cyber tribunals, etc,” says Mansoor, who has not yet read the proposed law. “Besides coordination with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, the draft law specifies crimes, compensations and punishment. Once the laws are in place, we believe the Cyber Authority in Pakistan should be able to effectively handle such crimes in course of time.”

It is expected that the cyber tribunal will be led by a chairperson and made up of judges and former judges of the high courts, prominent lawyers and experts on information technology, internet services, telecommunications and cryptography services.

The newspaper reported that the law will cover basic and widely-practiced cyber crimes. Complex ones have been avoided given the fact that such crimes are not common in Pakistan.