Summary ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly has approved ‘Fair-Trial Bill 2012’, Dunya News reported.
The bill was tabled by Law Minister Farooq Naek despite opposition from the MQM and PML-N.
The bill has formally paved the way for the government to tap phones and use e-mails and text messages as proof in trials.
The legislation provides the authority to the government that it can access “data, information or material in any documented form … through audio visual device, CCTV, still photography, bugging, observation or any mode of modern devices or techniques obtained under the Act … documents, papers, pamphlets, booklets” for surveillance.
The government can also intercept “emails, SMS, internet protocol detail record, call detail record and any form of computer based or cell phone based communication. It also includes any means of communication using wired/ wireless/ internet protocol-based media/ gadgetry.”
