ISLAMABAD: A government committee on Wednesday recommended changes to Pakistan’s proposed telecommunications law to preserve owner consent for access to private property after lawmakers objected that the bill could undermine constitutional property rights.
The committee was formed after lawmakers objected to provisions in the Pakistan Telecommunication Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2026, saying they could allow telecom companies to access private property without an owner’s explicit consent.
Critics pointed to a clause under which a property owner’s failure to respond to two official notices would be treated as “implied consent” for telecom installations, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to suspend parliamentary consideration of the bill and order a review.
The committee submitted its interim report to the government, recommending that owner consent and mutual agreement remain fundamental requirements in matters relating to private property while proposing a series of drafting changes to remove ambiguity from the bill.
“No action concerning access to or use of the land, building, property, or assets of any private individual or private legal entity shall be undertaken without the owner’s consent and a mutually agreed arrangement,” the committee’s report said, according to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
The committee also recommended that the bill’s scope be expressly clarified to apply to land, buildings, properties and assets owned or administered by public bodies, the federal, provincial and local governments, as well as regulated private residential schemes, cooperative housing societies and other similar entities.
It further called for clear legal definitions of private land, private property, private persons, companies, cooperative societies and other forms of joint ownership arrangements “to avoid any misunderstanding at any level,” as well as a clear distinction between above-ground and underground telecommunications infrastructure, with separate procedures for each.
The Ministry of Law and Justice said the committee had reached consensus on the bill’s broad principles and policy objectives, and that a draft of the proposed amendments would be finalized within a week for further consideration.
“The Government is committed to the development of the telecommunications and information technology sectors,” it said. “However, such development shall proceed with full protection of the constitutional and legal rights of citizens.”
