World News | Some Past Court Decisions Negatively Impacted Country's Tech Growth: Pak Minister

Islamabad, Feb 17 (PTI) Acknowledging that digital transformation was going on at a fast pace globally, a senior Pakistan minister on Wednesday said that some court decisions on technical matters in the past have negatively impacted the growth of the country's tech industry.

Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan's Minister for Science and Technology, was speaking at a two-day International Media Conference at the Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi.

“The judges should avoid the temptation to hear cases pertaining to technological matters as some decisions in the past damaged Pakistan's relations with digital and tech companies,” he said and lamented the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) decision to block the popular Chinese video-sharing app TikTok last year.

The PTA had banned the app in October last year after getting numerous complaints over its immoral content.

It later unblocked the app after the company assured it to control the immoral contents.

Chaudhry said that in his meeting with the judges, he had asked them that it was not good for the tech industry and digital sectors if they had the fear of being dragged to the courts.

He said that digital transformation was going on at a fast pace and the government should make decisions keeping in mind the changes in the next 10-15 years.

The minister also said that the country's universities should avoid over-regulating students and not force them about what to wear.

“Why do we try to become parents of every child; leave some things to the parents for them to do…We can't force one thing on another, let the people decide,” he said.

“Those who want to wear jeans should be able to wear jeans. Others who want to take an abaya should be allowed to do so,” he said.

Chauhdry is deemed as a rare voice of modernity in the Cabinet and frequently voices his progressive views. He had also criticised a clerics' committee tasked to sight the moon and announce the start of the holy month of Ramadan every year.

His ministry has introduced an app to accurately predict sightings of the moon but the clerics have refused to accept it and insist on seeing the crescent with eyes before announcing the month.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)