TRACK AND TRACE

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/06/01/track-and-trace/

• Shouldn’t there be consent first?

It seems the government is employing military technology to fight the corona virus. This technology is normally used to hunt down terrorists to discover what they’re up to by enabling the user to listen in to their telephone conversations, to note their movements to see who they are in touch with. This now is being used against the victims of corona, to ‘track and trace’ those infected with the virus, and by listening in to their phone conversations to discover whether those they are in communication with are also infected. This is of course being done by monitoring our phones.

Is this a good idea?

This strategy is not restricted to Pakistan alone. It is also being used by other countries for example Israel. Whether or not it is a good idea for those other countries to use it is not the remit of this column.

The government of Pakistan has failed dismally to come up with a coherent strategy to deal with the pandemic – much less adhere to whatever strategy it does produce. Its calls for lockdown have been ignored by the public, and the so called ‘religious’ lobby has ignored restrictions on mosques and congregations and done exactly as it pleased.  It has laid down and repealed instructions to educational institutions. It is now falling back upon threats against the government in Sindh for continuing the lockdown in that province, seeing that it must be seen to be doing something. This government and all previous governments are therefore hardly the most competent authority to trust with listening in to one’s private conversations – if one must entrust someone with such a thing.

Pakistan has a massive population. Almost three quarters of this large number of people have access to mobile phones, and a quarter to the internet. This surveillance involving all these people has been started without prior consent of the people of Pakistan.  Furthermore, organizations entrusted with this surveillance by the government do not always work in a salubrious manner.

Privacy international.org tells us that Pakistan is signatory to:

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that “no one shall be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family or correspondence.” The ICCPR also commits Pakistan to ensuring the protection of other rights that rely on the protection of privacy, such as freedom of expression and freedom of association.

The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights In Islam affirms that: “a) Everyone shall have the right to live in security for himself, his religion, his dependents, his honor and his property. (b) Everyone shall have the right to privacy in the conduct of his private affairs, in his home, among his family, with regard to his property and his relationships. It is not permitted to spy on him, to place him under surveillance or to besmirch his good name. The State shall protect him from arbitrary interference. (c) A private residence is inviolable in all cases. It will not be entered without permission from its inhabitants or in any unlawful manner, nor shall it be demolished or confiscated and its dwellers evicted.”

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan also establishes the right to privacy as a fundamental right. Article 14(1) of the Constitution confirms that “the dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.”

Yet Pakistan’s constitution also includes a wide-ranging exception to the primacy of fundamental rights. The provisions of Article 8 do not apply to any law relating to the ‘proper discharge’ of the duties of the Armed Forces or the police.

It is a cause for concern therefore to find that a strategy such as track and trace this is being employed, perhaps with the best intentions.

By employing this method the way it has, the government of Pakistan has failed to protect its citizens and has acted in contravention to its own laws, and in contravention to the other agreements it is signatory to.

Where, you wonder, is Covid-19 likely to stop and politics begin? When taking the step to bring in this surveillance, have any safeguards been put into place to ensure that this surveillance does not extend to other things that are unrelated to ‘viral matters’? Are there any guidelines in place to bring this surveillance to an end once the virus dies down or will it continue to try and unearth matters that have nothing to do with the Coronavirus?

And why were the people of this country not on board at the time that this measure was taken, why was their permission not obtained?

This is not a good idea at all.