Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Member of National Assembly (MNA) Naz Baloch has revealed that several women parliamentarians are being harassed through unethical and obscene material shared in certain WhatsApp groups.
She revealed during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Information Technology of the National Assembly that these WhatsApp groups are created with international numbers and forcibly add female members of Parliament (MPs).
During the meeting, Naz Baloch said that there is a new trend of harassing women parliamentarians on WhatsApp messages by international numbers.
“A few days ago, I received some messages from a number on the WhatsApp, after which I blocked the number. But a short time later, a WhatsApp group was formed from the same number, which included several women MPs,” she said.
According to her, they reported the group when she and other women were added again and again inspite of leaving the group. Most of the women parliamentarians added in these groups belong to the opposition.
When the committee sought a reply from the PTA on Naz Baloch’s complaint, the officials said that they can block the numbers issued by Pakistani telecom companies, but it is not up to the PTA to block foreign numbers.
WhatsApp is an OTT (over-the-top) application, that uses the internet rather than the traditional distribution methods of cable or satellite. Hence only the user has access to its security features.
PTA can find out the location of the mobile phone, but can’t find out the location of the WhatsApp. Officials recommended the affected MPs to block and report the numbers sending inappropriate messages.
“Social media platforms respond to consumer issues more often than regulators. We will also complain about this case to the social media platform, but they will see the complaints of the users sooner than us,” said PTA.
Naz Baloch expressed her disappointment in concerned authorities and said she won’t blame anyone for this, but it should be found out. PTA should write to WhatsApp and find a permanent solution.
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