Digital Nation Pakistan Bill is Approved: Government

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunications approved the Digital Nation Pakistan Bill (DNPB, though not unanimously. Tabled in mid-December 2024 but then deferred for further review, the DNPB has been promoted by the government, particularly the Minister for IT, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, as making “services more accessible through mobile phones, reducing queues in government offices”. The Minister also asserted that the Bill would not centralise data, and that “no agency, including NADRA, holds centralised data.”

Standing Committee members critical of the DNPB in its current form questioned the need for a Digital Commission. They also argued against implementing the Bill without tackling internet disruptions and shoddy internet infrastructure, or implementing data protection legislation first.