TANZEEM E ISLAMI

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Volume 2, Issue 16
16 August 31 August, 2016

TANZEEM E ISLAMI

Striving for the Law of Allah, on the Land of Allah

PERSPECTIVE

The official online Newsletter of Tanzeem e Islami

EDITORIAL

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Editorial
2&4 All praise is due to Allah (SWT), and peace & blessing on his noble
Press Releases issued by
Messengers (AS), in particular, on the last of them all the blessed Prophet
Tanzeem e Islami
3
Muhammad (SAAW).
Cyber-crime bill passed
4
Patron:
Hafiz Aakif Saeed
Chief Editor: Dr. Absar Ahmad
Editor:
Raza ul Haq

From the Quran:

And We have revealed to
you, [O Muhammad], the
Book in truth, confirming
that which preceded it of
the Scripture and as a
criterion over it. So (O
Rulers) judge between
them by what Allah has
revealed and do not follow
their
(the
evil-doers)
inclinations away from what
has come to you of the
truth

Cyber-crime Bill or Cyber-bullying Bill???

This is the question that has riddled many a mind since the National
Assembly (NA) of Pakistan passed the amended Cyber-crime Bill, 2016
after it had been scaled down by the Senate by making 55 amendments to
the original bill submitted to the upper house of the parliament for approval
by the NA in April 2015. While making the amendments to the original
document, the senate committee suggested that it was doing so to protect
the rights of people as guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan.
While we do agree in principle that cyber-crime has been on the rise all over
the globe and there is a need to ensure that criminal and terrorist activities
do not prosper in cyberspace, it is equally imperative that legislation of such
critical nature is done by due process and by taking all stakeholders on
board. Moreover, every law MUST include adequate checks and balances
to avoid, or at least restrict, any chances of abuse of power. All laws also
ought to be all-embracing and inclusive, without prejudice against certain
criminal acts, while ignoring other, equally pervasive crimes.

(Surah Al-Maida: 48-part) The detailed study of the Cyber-crime Bill, 2016 reveals that it clearly lacks

Selected Hadith:
Narrated
(RA):

Awf

ibn

four fundamental elements:

1- The mention of creating, posting and disseminating blasphemous

Malik material as a crime and the relevant definitions and punishments for those
involved in the act.

The Messenger of Allah

(SAAW) said: The best of
your rulers are those whom
you love and who love you,
who invoke Allahs (SWT)
blessings upon you and
you invoke His (SWT)
blessings upon them. And
the worst of your rulers are
those whom you hate and
who hate you, and whom
you curse and who curse
you. It was asked (by those
present): O Messenger of
Allah (SAAW)! Shouldn't we
overthrow them with the
help of the sword? He
(SAAW) replied: No, as long
as they establish prayer. If
you then find anything
detestable in them, you
should
hate
their
administration
(criticize
them), but do not withdraw
yourselves
from
their
obedience (in general).

2- The mention of creating, posting and sharing pornographic content and

obscene material of any nature as a crime, along with relevant definitions
and punishments for those involved in the act.

(Sahih Muslim)

(Continued on page 4)

3- The incumbent responsibility on Internet service providers and Mobile

service providers in ensuring that access to criminal, illegal, immoral and
sinful material is restricted and done so at their end along with the
punishment if they are unable to fulfill this obligation.
4- A system of checks and balances whereby it can be ensured that no
individual, group of individuals or the law enforcement agencies themselves
abuse the rights of ordinary citizens of Pakistan, without due cause, by
violating their privacy and dignity as guaranteed by the 1973 Constitution of
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Although the list of inherent flaws in the Bill is almost exhaustive, we would
limit ourselves to two other aspects of the bill that are ambiguous to say the
least. These include:
a. The Preamble of the Bill indicates that the scope of the law is very wide
as it deals with investigation, the whole process of trial, prosecution and
most importantly international cooperation of an act considered to be a
Cyber-crime. The bill provides mechanisms for the trial of offences under
the law. The preamble also clarifies that it is not only a substantive law but
also a procedural law. In simple words, the law may lead to prison terms of
up to 14 years when someone is convicted. Thus the use or abuse of the
law by law enforcement agencies and the transparency of the whole
process starting from investigation and culminating in conviction with a
prison term becomes of vital importance to the general public.

Page 3

PERSPECTIVE

Press Release issued by Tanzeem e Islami

Date: August 12, 2016
Lahore (PR): Ignoring Blasphemy and Pornography in the Cyber-crime Bill 2016
is a regrettable act of the government and policy-makers.
This was stated by the Ameer of Tanzeem e Islami, Hafiz Aakif Saeed, during the Khitab e
Jumuah at Quran Academy, Lahore. The Ameer said that if this had been done by the policymakers on purpose, then clearly, it amounted to a conspiracy which ought to be severely
censured.
The Ameer demanded that the policy-makers ought to revise the bill and take note of the
omission of clear-cut definitions and punishments for uploading and disseminating Blasphemous
and Pornographic material in the Cyber-crime Bill, 2016 and include provisions declaring them as
cyber-crimes, before the President signed on it, thus making it a law.
While commenting on the carnage in Quetta, the Ameer said that although he had already
condemned the incident, the truth was that any amount of condemnation of the brutal incident
was insufficient. The terrorists demonstrated brutality and ruthlessness of such a level that was
shameful for humanity.
The Ameer remarked that the interpretation given by ex-President, Asif Ali Zardari, of the speech
made by Quaid e Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, on 11th August 1947 was unacceptable to any
rational mind, totally incorrect and amounted to intellectual dishonesty.
While addressing the Karachi Bar Association on 25th January 1948, the Quaid had said that
certain rogue elements were trying to create confusion about the implementation of Shariat e
Muhammadi in Pakistan. The Quaid had then stated in the same speech, in no uncertain terms,
that Shariat e Muhammadi would most certainly be implemented in the country as the Law of
the Land.
The Ameer stated that in fact, Quaid e Azam had clearly mentioned in his speeches on 101
occasions before the creation of Pakistan and 14 times after independence that the system of
governance to be implemented as the Law of the Land in Pakistan would be Islam. The Ameer
added that Quaid e Azam never used the word secular throughout his life.
The Ameer concluded by cautioning the secular elements in the country not to try and falsely
attribute their own ideologies and beliefs on the personality and speech of Quaid e Azam.

Date: August 8, 2016

Lahore (PR): The terrorist attack in Civil Hospital Quetta is the worst imaginable
act of cruelty and barbarism.
This was said by the Ameer of Tanzeem e Islami, Hafiz Aakif Saeed, in a statement. While
condemning the Quetta incident in the strongest possible terms, the Ameer noted that murdering
and spilling the blood of defenseless and innocent people, and that too in a hospital, where
carrying out attacks even during the time of war is considered an unforgivable international
crime, could only be the deed of the Indian spy agency RAW, a sworn enemy of Pakistan and
its citizens.
A Muslim or any civilized human being, for that matter, could not even think of perpetrating such
a brutal act, he remarked.
The Ameer remarked that the arrest of RAW agents from Balochistan was clear evidence that
India was behind the vicious and merciless acts of terrorism being carried out in the province.
He concluded by demanding that these cruel and callous criminals be arrested and given
exacting punishment.

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PERSPECTIVE

Page 4

Editorial

(continued from page 1)

b. The definitions of terminologies used in Chapter II of the bill such as act, access to data, access to
information systems, unauthorized access, interference with information system or data, critical
infrastructure, data damage and dishonest intention. None of these terms have been clearly defined
and as a result can be interpreted to include many things, and literally anything, should the State choose
to criminalize a particular action, person, group of people or organization, in particular the religious
organizations operating peacefully in Pakistan.
We sincerely hope and pray that the policy-makers in Pakistan review the bill to remove all inadequacies
in it before promulgating it as a law and make it an example of fair, just and equitable piece of legislation.
After all, laws ought to be made for the benefit of the general public; not for bullying them!
Signing off

Dr. Absar Ahmad (Chief Editor)

Cyber-crime bill passed by NA: 15 reasons why Pakistanis

should be worried
The National Assembly (NA) passed the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB) 2015,
a.k.a., The Cyber-crime Bill, 2016, on Thursday after the Senate's unanimous adoption of the bill with
50+ amendments earlier in July. The bill will be signed into law by President Mamnoon Hussain.
The heavy-handed bill has been severely criticized by the IT industry, religious organizations, civil society
organizations and rights activists for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law
enforcement agencies.

Focus of criticism
1. Critics say the bill is too harsh, with punishments that do not fit crimes;
2. The bill's language leaves it open to abuse by LEAs, agencies and the government;
3. Recommendations of stakeholders were ignored in the formulation of the law;
4. The bill is silent about the crime of spreading blasphemous content as a cyber-offence;
5. The bill is extremely vague about the definition of obscenity and while it does talk about childpornography as an offence, it totally ignores the spread of pornographic content in general as an
offence;
6. The bill does not place sufficient burden of responsibility on Service providers for curbing the
dissemination of in-appropriate content;
7. The bill restricts freedom of expression and access to information;
8. The offences are too numerous and many of them overlap with other existing laws;
9. The wording of the bill leaves many clauses open to interpretation;
10. The bill can be misused to target religious organizations, journalists sources and whistleblowers;
11. Criteria for surveillance is even more open-ended than in the Fair Trial Act 2013;
12. Mechanisms for streamlining the implementation of the bill in its various dimensions and in
accordance with existing laws appear to be vaguely described in the bill;
13. The authority designated under the new law should have been independent of the executive;
14. The authority has been given sweeping powers to block and destroy online material, without a
court order; and
15. The bill does not adequately define the context and scope of international cooperation when
dealing with offences that amount to a cyber-crime.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of the criticism against the bill. A full text copy of the Bill can be viewed at the link below.

https://www.scribd.com/document/320884537/PECB-bill-Senate#from_embed
Source adapted from: Reported by Raza Hassan for Dawn.com;
used by the Perspective Team with due editorial discretion

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