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Can new authority resolve cybersecurity paradox? | The Express Tribune
Questions remain unanswered about funding, institutional coherence and tension with telecom firms
ISLAMABAD:
As the federal IT minister is all set to present the new Cybersecurity Act 2025 for establishing an independent National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), fundamental questions remain unanswered regarding funding, institutional coherence, and the inherent tension between security and telecom companies.
The government has stated that new secure digital infrastructure will be built under the World Bank-backed Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP). This strategic choice prompts a key question: why is a World Bank-funded project (DEEP), focused on digital public services, being positioned as the backbone for a national security law?
This proposed law pertains to the fourth component of the World Bank’s DEEP, which is Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) and is being financed with zero dollars and is primarily about development of a CERC manual that entails an emergency action plan. DEEP is specifically funding the assessment of Pakistan’s cybersecurity infrastructure and the development of a comprehensive cybersecurity roadmap by the end of this year.
By embedding the new Cybersecurity Act’s architecture directly into the DEEP project, the government is seeking to achieve two goals: tapping into international investments and standardisation.
NCA would utilise moderately sized international investment (DEEP) to finance the otherwise expensive development of secure, government-wide infrastructure, bypassing reliance solely on the national budget. At the same time, it shall enforce global best practices, as World Bank projects require stringent standards for data governance and security. Logically, these good practices could be then followed by our National CERT.
However, the question remains: what happens to the existing National Emergency Response Team (PK CERT) and will the Act lead to institutional redundancy? And what roles related to cybersecurity shall remain with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)?
PK CERT (Pakistan Computer Emergency Response Team) is the officially designated National CERT, formally established under the CERT Rules 2023 to handle cyber incident response, threat intelligence sharing, and coordination across national and sectoral CERTs.
Now establishing a new, overarching National Cybersecurity Authority with response powers could create bureaucratic overlaps with the operational functions already mandated to PK CERT. Will the NCA become the policymaking body while PK CERT remains the technical implementation arm, or will the NCA attempt to incorporate the functions of PK CERT in entirety?
Similarly, the PTA has its own comprehensive cybersecurity framework for the telecom sector that is built on six pillars of legal framework, cyber resilience, proactive monitoring and incident response, capacity building, cooperation and collaboration, and public awareness. Collectively, these pillars represent a holistic approach, ensuring a resilient and secure digital infrastructure across Pakistan’s telecom sector.
It remains to be seen whether the new Cybersecurity Act and the establishment of the National Cybersecurity Authority would rationalise or rather confuse the PTA’s security mandate?
The PTA currently operates under a regulatory framework focused on communication and content. The proposed NCA, however, is meant to be the apex technical and policy body for national cybersecurity. If the NCA focuses strictly on national defence and critical infrastructure protection, the PTA’s security role might be limited to telecom operators. This could lead to a clear division of labour.
But if conversely, the NCA demands sweeping powers over all digital infrastructure, it would create a conflict over who sets the technical standards for telecom networks – the established telecom regulator (PTA) or the new cyber authority (NCA).
The PTA’s current dual role as a regulator as well as an enforcer of censorship means its actions are often perceived through a lens of political control rather than technical security. The NCA must ensure that the overall cybersecurity strategy prioritises technical defence and rights protection over the PTA’s tendency towards mass restriction. So, the true test of the new framework is whether the NCA, as a high-level authority focused on technical resilience, will advocate for alternative, targeted security measures instead of blanket shutdowns enforced by the PTA.
In essence, the new Cybersecurity Act provides an opportunity to either formalise the PTA’s necessary security functions under the NCA’s umbrella, thereby improving coherence, or it could simply add another layer of bureaucracy, further muddying the lines of authority over Pakistan’s critical digital space. The need for a “beefed-up incident response” system is undeniable, but it must build on the technical expertise that PK CERT is tasked with developing.
If the new authority is primarily a political or bureaucratic body, it risks sidelining the technical competency of PK CERT, replacing expert-driven incident management with top-down political control.
A similar fiasco happened a few years back when we tried to transfer powers for managing state-owned companies to a newly established withholding company – Sarmaya-e-Pakistan – a move that totally backfired and resulted in wastage of taxpayers’ money.
The writer is a Cambridge graduate and is working as a strategy consultant
The former One Direction member-turned-solo artist appears on the Sunday Times list for the first time.
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Budget 2026: FM Nirmala Sitharaman gives a strong push to manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation, while proposing a simpler tax and customs system.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2026-27.
Budget 2026 Takeaways: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday presented the Union Budget 2026-27, giving a strong push to manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation, proposing a simpler tax and customs regime, and hailing the government’s modernisation drive as a “reforms express”.
The Budget 2026 is anchored around three ‘kartavyas’ — driving growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness, building people’s capacity, and ensuring inclusive development under the vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas.
In her ninth consecutive Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman laid out a multi-pronged strategy to sustain growth amid global uncertainty, including expanding domestic electronics and semiconductor capabilities, de-risking infrastructure projects, skilling India’s youth for emerging technologies, and easing compliance for taxpayers and importers.
Here are the key takeaways from Budget 2026 across manufacturing, infrastructure, skills, AI, taxation and customs duty.
Manufacturing Gets A Boost
Budget 2026 put a special emphasis on the manufacturing landscape in India. The outlay for electronics components manufacturing was raised sharply to Rs 40,000 crore, while new schemes for rare earth magnets, chemical parks, container manufacturing and capital goods seek to reduce import dependency, and strengthen domestic supply chains. Textiles got an integrated, employment-oriented package covering fibres, clusters, skilling and sustainability.
Infrastructure-Led Growth
Infrastructure got a boost with a higher capex allocation and initiatives like a risk guarantee fund to de-risk projects for private developers, new dedicated freight corridors and national waterways, dedicated REITs (real estate investment trusts) for recycling of significant real estate assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), and a seaplane VGF (viability gap funding) scheme.
The Centre’s capital expenditure (capex) target has been increased to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY27, up from Rs 11.2 lakh crore earmarked for the current financial year. Moreover, maintaining the fiscal discipline, Sitharaman said the government expects the fiscal deficit to be at 4.3 per cent of the GDP in 2026-27, lower than 4.4 per cent projected for the current financial year.
Tier-II and Tier-III cities were placed at the centre of urban growth via City Economic Regions, backed by reform-linked funding.
“We shall continue to focus on developing infrastructure in cities with over 5 lakh population (Tier II and Tier III), which have expanded to become growth centres,” Sitharaman said in her Budget Speech.
Greater Emphasis On Skilling
The Budget placed renewed emphasis on the services economy as a jobs engine. A high-powered Education-to-Employment and Enterprise Committee will realign skilling with market needs, including the impact of emerging technologies.
Content creation and creative industries get a boost through AVGC labs in schools and colleges, support for animation, gaming and comics, and new institutional capacity for design and hospitality. Tourism-linked skilling, from guides to digital heritage documentation, signals a clear intent to convert culture and content into employment and exports.
“I propose to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai in setting up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges,” FM Sitharaman said. AVGC stands for animation, visual effects, gaming and comics.
AI & Semiconductors Push
Artificial intelligence (AI) was positioned as a cross-sector force multiplier rather than a standalone theme. The Budget provided a push to artificial intelligence (AI) by promoting adoption with governance, agriculture, education and skilling, including proposals for AI-enabled advisory tools for farmers and AI integration in education curricula.
On hardware, the semiconductor strategy expanded decisively under ISM 2.0 (India Semiconductor Mission 2.0), with focus on domestic equipment manufacturing, materials, research centres and workforce development, signalling a long-term commitment to building a resilient chip ecosystem in India.
Taxation, ITR, TDS, TCS
A major structural reform comes with the Income Tax Act, 2025, effective April 1, 2026, containing simpler rules and redesigned forms.
Budget 2026 provided compliance relief for individuals, including extended timelines for revising returns to March 31 from December 31 earlier, staggered ITR due dates, and easier filing of Form 15G/15H through depositories.
Individuals with ITR-1 and ITR-2 returns will continue to file till July 31, and non-audit business cases or trusts are proposed to be allowed time till August 31, according to the Budget Speech 2026-27.
“I propose to extend time available for revising returns from 31st December to up to 31st March with the payment of a nominal fee. I also propose to stagger the timeline for filing of tax returns. Individuals with ITR 1 and ITR 2 returns will continue to file till 31st July and non-audit business cases or trusts are proposed to be allowed time till 31st August,” Sitharaman said.
TDS (Tax deducted at source) rules were clarified for manpower services, while a rule-based system for lower or nil TDS certificates is proposed. TCS rates were cut to 2% for overseas tour packages, education and medical expenses under liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). Litigation is targeted through integrated assessment and penalty orders, lower pre-deposit requirements, and wider immunity provisions.
TDS on the sale of immovable property by a non-resident will be deducted and deposited through resident buyer’s PAN (Permanent Account Number)-based challan instead of requiring TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number), Sitharaman said.
Customs Duty Tweaks
Customs duty rationalisation continued with a clear focus on domestic manufacturing, energy transition and ease of living. Exemptions have been extended or introduced for capital goods used in lithium-ion batteries, critical minerals processing, nuclear power projects and aircraft manufacturing.
Personal imports will become cheaper with a reduction in duty on goods for personal use from 20% to 10%. Seventeen cancer drugs and additional rare-disease treatments were exempted from customs duty. Process reforms aimed at trust-based, tech-driven clearances, faster cargo movement and lower compliance costs, especially for exporters and MSMEs (micro, small, medium and enterprises).
STT On F&O Hiked
The Budget increased securities transaction tax (STT) on futures trading from 0.02% to 0.05% and on options trading from 0.10% to 0.15%, a move that upset the capital markets with the BSE Sensex crashing more than 2,300 points from the day’s high and the NSE Nifty dropping to 24,571.75.
Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is a direct tax imposed on the buying and selling of securities in India.
Commenting on the Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The Union Budget reflects the aspirations of 140 crore Indians. It strengthens the reform journey and charts a clear roadmap for Viksit Bharat.”
February 01, 2026, 14:43 IST
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Shanghai (China): The Consulate General of India in Shanghai welcomed the resumption of Air India’s direct flight services between Shanghai and New Delhi, marking a major step forward in restoring people-to-people, business and institutional connectivity between India and China.
According to an official release, the inaugural Shanghai-New Delhi flight departed today from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, carrying over 230 passengers on board the Boeing 787 aircraft. The relaunch comes after a gap of nearly six years and represents a significant milestone in normalising bilateral air connectivity following the suspension of services in early 2020.
Speaking on the occasion, Consul General Pratik Mathur said, “The resumption of direct flights between Shanghai and New Delhi is a tangible expression of the renewed momentum in India-China engagement. Enhanced air connectivity is essential for facilitating trade, tourism, academic exchanges and people-to-people contacts, particularly between India and East China. We are pleased to see Air India restoring this important link.”
As per a release, Air India will operate the route four times a week using its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring modernised cabins and enhanced onboard services. The restored service reflects the growing demand for travel between the two countries and the steady recovery of cross-border mobility. It will also support commercial, educational and cultural exchanges between India and the Yangtze River Delta region, one of China’s most economically dynamic clusters.
The Consulate General of India in Shanghai remains committed to supporting initiatives that strengthen connectivity and deepen cooperation across trade, investment, tourism, education and cultural exchange, the release stated.
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