Aslam Hayat (Senior Policy Fellow LIRNEasia, Country Researcher for Pakistan), and Pranesh Prakash (Policy Fellow LIRNEasia, Co-Principal Investigator), drew on research carried out under LIRNEasia’s ‘Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia’ project to discuss aspects of data governance in Pakistan and other countries. This was part of a forum hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan, under the theme, “Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on Data Governance in Pakistan.” The forum brought together key voices from government, academia, civil society, and the private sector in Pakistan, and was held on 23 April 2025. Aslam Hayat highlighted key findings from the research carried out in Pakistan, outlining the data governance framework in the country, identifying policy gaps and good practices. Pranesh Prakash gave an overview of the research carried out by the Harnessing Data for Democratic Development project, and discussed concepts related to data governance, privacy, and open standards. 
Aslam Hayat (Senior Policy Fellow LIRNEasia, Country Researcher for Pakistan), and Pranesh Prakash (Policy Fellow LIRNEasia, Co-Principal Investigator), drew on research carried out under LIRNEasia’s ‘Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia’ project to discuss aspects of data governance in Pakistan and other countries. This was part of a forum hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan, under the theme, “Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on Data Governance in Pakistan.” The forum brought together key voices from government, academia, civil society, and the private sector in Pakistan, and was held on 23 April 2025. Aslam Hayat highlighted key findings from the research carried out in Pakistan, outlining the data governance framework in the country, identifying policy gaps and good practices. Pranesh Prakash gave an overview of the research carried out by the Harnessing Data for Democratic Development project, and discussed concepts related to data governance, privacy, and open standards. 
Now that the fate of the “online safety” bill is in the hands of the many petitioners (45) and the three-judge bench that is looking at its constitutionality, we can look at the big picture of what the government is trying to do with this draconian legislation. It appears that even the committee that was formed in 2021 to advise on it has distanced itself from the final text. LIRNEasia Chair, Rohan Samarajiva gave a talk on this at the CMR-Nepal Journalism Academy in Kathmandu on 19 October 2023. The slides can be viewed below.
On May 23rd 2019, the Government of Sri Lanka posted the Draft Cyber Security Bill on the SL CERT website and invited public comments/input. LIRNEasia submitted comments in response to the SL CERT’s request. Our written comments submitted on 5th June 2019 are available through the link below Comments on the Cyber Security Bill – Sri Lanka 2019 Subsequently in August 2023, the Government of Sri Lanka posted an updated version of the Cyber Security Bill and invited public comments. LIRNEasia once again submitted written comments on 18th August 2023, which can be accessed here. Comments on the Cyber Security Bill – Sri Lanka 2023 The report below analyses the extent to which the input submitted by LIRNEasia in 2019 has been taken into account in the updated (August 2023) version of the proposed Bill
LIRNEasia submitted a response to the Ministry of Technology’s invitation to comment on the Cyber Security Bill uploaded to the website of Sri Lanka CERT in August 2023 (www.cert.gov.lk). The submission addresses specific concerns related to the requirement for accreditation of Cyber Security service providers, the composition of the Cyber Security Regulatory Authority and the definition of the term Critical National Information Infrastructure.
This report is to evaluate the impact of interventions (written comments on the draft bill during the stakeholder consultation) by LIRNEasia on the Personal Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022, which was passed by the Parliament of Sri Lanka on 9th of March 2022. The report also provides details of media coverage of LIRNEasia interventions on the Act.
LIRNEasia comments on the proposed Cyber Security Bill for Sri Lanka - 2019