The Chairman of the Par🍸liamentary Standing Committee on IT and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that the committee will interro♕gate government officials in connection to the allegations regarding suspected phone tapping of politicians, journalists and others using Israeli spyware Pegasus.
Tharoor also asserted that it is 🌺the "most important issue&quo𝓀t; for many members of the committee.
The 32-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT is schedulꩵed to 𝔍meet on Wednesday, for which the listed agenda is ''Citizens' data security and privacy'', according to a notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The pa𓆏nel, which has the maximum members from the ruling BJP, has summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on a list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NS♋O's Pegasus spyware.
Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, two union mini༺sters -- Prahlad Singh Patel and Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, businessm𓃲an Anil Ambani, a former CBI chief, and at least 40 journalists are on the list on the leaked database of NSO. It is, however, not established that all the phones were hacked.
"The subject of Citizens Data Privacy anಞd Security is an approved agenda item of the committee and it was under this item that we had earlier discuss𓄧ed the Pegasus issue in November-December last year. So it's a continuing issue.
There would be other qℱuest♏ions as well, as this is not necessarily the only issue. But, for many of us in the committee this is perhaps the most important issue," Tharoor told PTI a day before the panel's meeting.
Since the beginniܫng of the monsoon session on July 19, both houses have seen repeated disruptions as opposition parties have been demanding a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe in this matter.
"Parliament is not functioning because of this issue. P🌱eople are anxious to find out about this and we are definitely likely to have questions for the governmen🅘t officials attending the meeting.
We are going to see what the answers are,” he said. Meanwhile, the TMC-led government in West Bengal has set up a Commission of Inquiry to prob🎉e allegations of snooping on politicians, officials and journalists.
Leaders from all parties have been mainta🐈ining that the entire opposition is united𝐆 on this matter and they want a discussion on the Pegasus snooping issue in Parliament.
(With PTI Inputs)
