Cyber harassment shrinks digital space for women in GilGit Baltistan
By Israruddin Israr
Gilgit (TP) Dec 28: An educated woman associated with an NGO in Gilgit was being harassed by an unknown person through text messages. She was upset and did not know how to deal with the menacing state of affairs. Finally, she decided to suspend her mobile subscriber’s identity module (SIM). After that, she even doesn’t dare to share her personal contacts with her colleagues and relatives in the extended family. This decision has increased her sense of insecurity in a society which was already locked out for working or common women of the area.
Another vocal woman has been receiving abusive language, threats and blackmailing comments on the social media. She endured a trauma every day but did not know how to deal with the situation except for avoiding using the social media.
A rape victim left the area as she had been blackmailed by the rapist through videos and pictures, which were contained in his mobile phone. Many women put pictures of their husbands or sons as profile picture on their social media ID as they receive unwanted friendship requests and lewd messages if they upload their own pictures.
A woman who works for the rights of women in the area lamented on the situation and according to her every second woman who uses social media or mobile phone complaints about minor or severe stories of harassment in her life. According to her, “There are hundreds of stories of cyber harassment in our surroundings but owing to social pressure, fear of more victimization and defamation we don’t dare to share it with our male family members, friends or even with relevant authorities.”
“Though there are a few statistics available, stories suggest online threats are increasing and turning into physical threats in real life. Fear of disgrace in the conservative society can isolate women from social circles and family members, and as a result, they often stay silent, and many incidents go unreported,” according a report carried by Al-JAZEERA on December 13, 2016.
Like other parts of Pakistan, the society of Gilgit-Baltistan also witnesses the increasing fraction of cyber harassment but a very few people report the matter to the relevant authorities. According to sources, the FIA’s Gilgit office has received only 11 complaints of cybercrime since its establishment in July 2018, while only one of them was regarding cyber harassment.
Generally, people discuss the cases of cyber harassment in their private circles but they don’t complaint it at the relevant forums. Cyber harassment is a component of cybercrime. Cybercrime is a new phenomenon in Pakistan like other third world countries. Cyber harassment refers to online harassment. Cyber harassment or bullying is the use of email, instant messaging, and derogatory websites to bully or otherwise harass an individual or group through personal attacks. Cyber harassment can be in the form of flames, comments made in chat rooms, sending of offensive or cruel e-mails, or even harassing others by posting on blogs or social networking sites. Cyber harassment is often difficult to track as the person responsible for the acts remains anonymous while threatening others online. Online abuse has many other forms, from being blackmailed by hackers with private and sensitive photos to threats of physical violence and rape. The increased access to social media has added another dimension to gender-based violence in Pakistan.
Women are the main victims of gender-based cyber harassment.
Mr. Nisar Ahmed, a human rights activist and Gilgit Baltistan based gender equality campaigner has a different point of view. He says, “There is a problem of the internet in GB that’s why the cybercrime ratio is less in GB as compared to other parts of the country. The Special Communication Organization (SCO) is the only service provider in the highly inaccessible region. 4G service of the internet has been started recently but it doesn’t work properly. Many areas are still deprived of its coverage, however, the youth of GB, particularly the girls who live in other cities of Pakistan, usually complain about the cyber harassment.”
“But those who have access to the internet and social media in GB definitely complaint about the cyber harassment and a majority of them are women and girls like other parts of the country,” Nisar says.
If we talk about the prevention of electronic crimes act 2016, the article 21 of the act is about the offenses against modesty of a natural person or minor and article 24 deals with the cases of harassment. Civil society is more critical about the act as there are many intricacies in it which can be applied as per the whims. After the cybercrime bill turned into a Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016, the Federal Investigation Agency was given the task of investigating matters related to the cyberspace of the country.
Later on, the FIA established its first ever “National Response Centre for Cyber Crime”. That is the latest introduction to the mandate of the FIA, primarily to deal with cyber crimes and it is the only unit in the country that besides receiving complaints also assists other law enforcement agencies in dealing with cases which fall in their domain.
Other than the role of implementation authority, according to experts, there are significant lacunas in the prevention of cybercrime act 2016. Hence it has been criticized widely by all stakeholders.
“The overly broad language used in the bill ensures that innocent and ignorant Pakistani citizens, unaware of the ramifications of what the bill entails, can be ensnared and find themselves subject to very harsh penalties,” said NighatDaad, founder of a group called the Digital Rights Foundation, according to Reuters.
Though Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015, especially those articles and laws which deal with the issue of online harassment, a step in the right direction towards talking online violence seriously, they are both overboard in their reach and inadequate in effectively tackling harassment in online spaces when taken at face value. The laws have been widely criticized for the vague, and often careless, language that they contain….. The broad language of the sections can be reined in by thoughtful interpretation and reasoned discussion on the contours of free speech in a democratic society,” according to a report published by digital rights foundation blog on January 31, 2017.
Owing to the vague definitions and ambiguities in the prevention of cybercrime act 2016, the experts criticized it widely.
Apart from criticism of the law, the implementing authority’s capacity is also a question mark. Due to lack of expertise, human and financial resources, the authorities have been facing difficulties to deal with the cases of cyber harassment.
The FIA GB office faces the same situation. The office lacks the staff, experts and financial resources which affect its services. The regional section of national response center GB usually refers the cases regarding cybercrime to its head office in Islamabad while the Islamabad office is already overburdened due to thousands of pending cases.
On the other side, the process of investigation is lengthy, it demands technical expertise while the office lacks the technical staff, and even not a single woman staff member has been inducted yet. The office needs female staff, psychologists, experts of IT to deal with the harassment cases. The desk which deals with the cybercrimes consists of two staff members who are none technical. Apart from it, there is no cyber judge in Gilgit-Baltistan, hence cases of cybercrime are referred to the sessions court. While according to the law, without the orders of the cyber judge the investigation can’t be carried out. It is the judge who writes to the social media service provider to block the offenders’ ID or page. Once cyber judge writes to the service provider, then the services providers usually interpret the offence according to their point of view. These are the hurdles which don’t allow the authorities to take up them properly. Because they feel that if the number of complaints increased, they have lack of resources to deal with them. Whereas the victims of cyber harassment have no other option but to lock themselves out of these digital spaces.