The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has announced that it would observe a ‘Black Day’ on February 28 in protest against the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Ordinance 2022, deeming it a “draconian law” intended to restrain media freedom and stifle dissent.
The controversial presidential ordinance amending the cybercrime law has drawn severe criticism from all quarters. While hearing a petition filed by the PFUJ against the move, the Islamabad High Court restrained the FIA from making arrests under Peca’s Section 20, which gives the law-enforcement agency a wider ambit.
Among effecting other changes that have rendered a draconian law even more so, the ordinance makes online defamation a non-bailable, cognisable offence and increases the jail term to a maximum of five years. There can hardly be two opinions about the fact that this is a draconian law that needs a serious rethink from the government.
The PTI’s ordinance also needs to remember that there is a functioning parliament in the country. However, it has become a common practice of the PTI-led government to bypass normal parliamentary procedures and avoid any debates and discussions on such controversial laws.
Some saner voices in the government are urging it to take a different direction. Among them, in fact, is Federal Minister for IT Syed Amin Ul Haque, which indicates that a few select individuals were behind the ill-thought-out move. Even the country’s top law official, Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan, while speaking to a news channel, said that the ordinance “will be draconian if it comes into force as it is.”
Defamation laws across the world are becoming a thing of the past and there are fairly stringent conditions to prove any such allegations. In Pakistan too, there are already defamation laws in existence and there is no need to further impose any other ordinance that directly infringes upon people’s right to free speech.
If the amendments do become law, it will adversely affect the media scene in the country at all levels – from electronic and print to social media. The constitution of Pakistan guarantees people’s fundamental rights under articles 19 and 19-A, and any attempt to infringe upon those rights would be challenged by a free media and free citizens in any democratic society.
While hate speech and incitement to violence should always be checked by law, PECA in its current form and with the amendment is not the answer to this challenge. Social media has given every citizen a voice and any attempt by the government to silence that voice should be challenged.
