ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Technology, Anusha Rahman has highlighted that the telecommunication Infrastructure of Pakistan provides supportive environment for sustainable growth.
While presenting policy statement at the World Summit on Information Technology (WSIS) Forum 2015 in Geneva, Anusha Rahman said the goals of the telecommunication sector were very much aligned with Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals for seeking the socio-economic development of the country.
According to a press release received here from Geneva on Wednesday, she said, with the rapid uptake of data consumption in Pakistan and usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), we were getting increasingly mindful of other action lines such as building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, and are in the process of taking policy and legislative measure accordingly.
The minister further said that the government had now accorded due policy emphasis to building demand for consumption of these services to ensure sustainable and beneficial diffusion of ICTs in the society particularly broadband in the rural areas, and is committed to complete the ecosystem of ICTs from the development of application and services to the provision of access and delivery of the services and applications to all.
The minister also highlighted that we believe that the access to internet should be available to every citizen. However, every state has its own legal framework and socio-cultural dynamics. Hence, it was the responsibility of the state to accordingly protect rights of their citizens, both online and offline, he added.
Furthermore, the parameters of reliability of information available on the internet should be similar to that of information available on other mediums, she added.
She said safety and privacy of the internet users is of utmost importance and without over regulating the internet there is a need to keep a balance to be determined by the respective states in accordance with their legal framework and socio-cultural norms.
