GAPS AND SHORTCOMINGS IN THE CYBER SECURITY POLICY OF PAKISTAN (2021): A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH THE NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY POLICY OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

National cyber security policy has emerged as a critical instrument of state governance in an era defined by accelerating digital transformation, increasingly sophisticated threat actors, and expanding critical infrastructure dependence on networked systems. This study examines the gaps and shortcomings in Pakistan’s National Cyber Security Policy (2021) through a systematic comparative analysis with Bangladesh’s National Cyber Security Strategy (2023). Employing a qualitative comparative policy analysis methodology grounded in document analysis, the study applies a structured evaluation framework derived from established scholarly criteria for assessing national cyber security strategies. Five comparative dimensions are examined: research and development orientation, cyber security education and capacity building, risk assessment and incident response mechanisms, cybercrime governance and institutional frameworks, and public-private partnership architecture. The findings reveal that while Pakistan’s policy acknowledges the principal dimensions of modern cyber security governance, it exhibits structural deficiencies in implementation specificity, institutional coordination, educational integration, and stakeholder engagement breadth relative to Bangladesh’s more operationally detailed and comprehensively scoped strategy. Key gaps include the absence of a funded national cyber security research agenda, underdeveloped public-private collaboration mechanisms, limited integration of cyber security competencies into national educational curricula, and inadequate victim protection frameworks for individuals and e-commerce participants. The study concludes with evidence-grounded recommendations for policy revision aligned with international cyber security governance standards including the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and contributes to the comparative cyber policy literature on South Asian developing economies