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January 29, 2025 - Comments Off on President Zardari Signs PECA Amendments into law

President Zardari Signs PECA Amendments into law

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has signed into law controversial amendments to the the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), in the face of numerous protests and calls of condemnation from journalists, political parties and international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International. The presidential assent – which also included another controversial law, the Digital National Pakistan Bill - came on the heels of the rapid approval of the PECA amendments by both the National Assembly and the Senate. The International Federation of Journalists said in a statement that:

"The amendments to Pakistan’s draconian PECA represent a transparent attempt to further tighten control over digital expression and internet freedom under the guise of curbing misinformation. By extending government jurisdiction online, broadening censorship powers, and imposing penalties for vaguely defined offences, this legislation threatens journalists, activists, and the public’s right to information. The IFJ calls on President Asif Ali Zardari to swiftly reject the bill and ensure the constitutional right to freedom of expression is upheld.”

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists said that they protest the passage of the amendments, and would  “stage a grand sit in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad on February 14, 2025”.

January 23, 2025 - Comments Off on Journalists, Opposition walk out of NA as controversial PECA amendments passed

Journalists, Opposition walk out of NA as controversial PECA amendments passed

Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed controversial amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), to which journalists and members of the opposition PTI party, who both walked out of the National Assembly, walked out in protest. These amendments to the PECA have been condemned since they were first leaked, not just as the overly broad language could be interpreted to further attack freedom of expression, but because drafts of the bill had not been shared or discussed with stakeholders, which has been heavily criticised by activists and journalists. The bill will now be sent to the Pakistani Senate for a final approval.

The government has for several months claimed that the new provisions are necessary to tackle “fake news” or disinformation, with people accused of such to be “punished with imprisonment which may extend upto three years or with fine which may extend to Rs2m or with both.”

In addition to proposing the creation of a Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority (SMPRA), the amendments have expanded the definition of “social media platforms” to include the “tools” or software used to access said platforms. This expansion of the definition of “social media platforms”, even before the bill’s passing, was widely regarded as a vehicle to provide legal cover to future attempts to ban “unregistered” local VPNs – a legal opinion by the Ministry of Law had thwarted previous VPN ban attempts.

Nighat Dad, Digital Rights Foundation’s Executive Director, said that the passing of the amendments came as a “shock”, and that civil society organisations and other stakeholders had not been shown any drafts, with the result that the final version “suddenly came out of nowhere”. In addition to remarking that the bill should not have been passed owing to the “broad and ambiguous” powers it gave to authorities – already a serious  and ongoing concern about the PECA – Ms. Dad also pointed out its definitions concerning “false and fake information” were suspect – notable given that global authorities have not been able to provide consistent and universally applicable definitions themselves.

January 8, 2025 - Comments Off on Ministries Unresponsive to Right To Information: Fafen Report

Ministries Unresponsive to Right To Information: Fafen Report

The majority of government ministries are not complying with Pakistan’s Right to Information Act (RTI), according to the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), in a report released on January 7. According to FAFEN, “this gap enables the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation”. Analysing the websites of forty divisions of thirty-three federal ministries, FAFEN found that,

“none of the assessed entities fully complied with the RTI Act, which mandates government bodies to proactively disclose public information online, in accordance with the principles of Article 19-A of the Constitution. Moreover, over one-third of the ministries did not respond to information requests as required by the law.”

After assessing these websites, FAFEN filed RTI requests with the federal ministries in question, and found that only 19 respond and that 14 ministries refused to do so. Of the ministries that did respond, only 9 responded within a stipulated 10 day period.

“only nine ministries (27%) provided the requested information within the stipulated 10 working days. However, 10 ministries (30%) provided the information after the legally-required timeframe. The remaining 14 ministries have yet to provide the requested information.”

FAFEN’s assessments took place between April and June 2024.