Monitoring of internet traffic by US company: Senate chief tasks panel to investigate

After opposition and treasury members expressed concern over alleged agreement with a US company Sandvine Inc to monitor internet traffic in Pakistan, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani Friday tasked a parliamentary panel to probe into the matter. However, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Swati plainly told the Senate that Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Authority (PTA) has neither signed any contract for monitoring of internet traffic with any vendor nor is spending public money on the project.
The lawmakers contended the issue be referred to the House committee concerned and also questioned how this could be denied. They said on one hand the government is saying that no agreement has been signed with the American firm while on the other it is trying to defend it in the written reply. Speaking on the issue, Senators Mushtaq Ahmad of JI, Talha Mehmood of JUI-F, PTI's Shahzad Waseem and Mushahid Hussain of PML-N expressed scepticism that some Israelis might be having shares in the US firm, involved in monitoring internet traffic.
Senator Mushtaq pointed out that the agreement might have been with the US firm but Israeli secret agency's involvement in all this could not be ruled out. Referring to Wikipedia, Senator Mushahid said that every information/data about Pakistan, being monitored, is supposed to be shared with US intelligence agencies. He continued that each US technology company is authorised to use its information with US intelligence, including the Facebook and this has been proved.
He read out from the report that a Sandvine Inc affiliate was part of a controversy, as its technology was alleged to have been used to spy on Turkish citizens. "It is a routine job for US companies to share whatever information they will receive from Pakistan with their intelligence agencies," he remarked.
Senator Talha said that there was also a particular case of a Turkish firm in international media, but it also had shares of Israel's Mossad Secret Service. He then asked if the shareholding of US firm was checked. Swati said that Pakistan's premier intelligence agency is involved and every aspect/parameter is taken care of but if the senators have concerns, they could share with him a specific question, which could be taken up in the House committee meeting.
Earlier, the House was informed through a written reply to a question asked by Senator Mushtaq that neither Pakistan Telecommunication Authority signed any contract for monitoring of internet traffic with any vendor nor was spending any public money on the project. And, in compliance with statutory and policy obligations, PTA directed telecom industry to deploy a suitable technical solution capable of monitoring, analysing and curbing grey traffic. The system will be termed as web monitoring system.
The House was told that the contract was signed between telecom operators and the vendor without involvement of public money and all long distance international, cellular mobile operators and submarine cable landing station licenses were sharing the cost of the system under their regulatory obligations.
"For addressing security concerns, PTA has obtained undertaking from Inbox Business Technologies, the vendor and manufacturer company Sandvine Inc, US, for any possible involvement of hostile element. Security agency has been involved to conduct security audit of the system to find out any loopholes and vulnerabilities in the system. A strict clause about the system and material breach is included in the contract. In case, any such breach is identified and validated, contract will be terminated," the minister in-charge said.
State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan strongly refuted a claim made by PkMAP Senator Usman Kakar that 90 percent transit trade with Afghanistan had been diverted to Iran's Chabahar port. He also quoted figures, which showed that there had been slight increase in Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan while imports also registered a notable increase.