We’re losing our freedom of speech – what will they take next?

The fact that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had to postpone a National Assembly session in order to put into effect the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 should give us a good indication of just how popular the state expects this amendment to be. By sidestepping parliament in order to ensure that this ordinance can enter into law without any objection or debate, the government seems to have made its intentions clear. Upon inspection of the amendment, it becomes rather evident as to why PTI was in such a rush to steamroll this presidential ordinance so that it could “come into force at once”.

Under the amendments made to the existing law, its parametres have been widened so as to ensure that the spreading of any “fake news”, or any sort of online defamation, is now to be considered a non-bailable offence. While this addition in and of itself raises plenty of questions, the ramifications of this presidential decree do not end here. The definition of the individual who can file a complaint under this law i.e. the aggrieved person or their authorised representative, has been broadened in order to include any “company, association or body of people whether incorporated or not, institution, organisation, authority or any other body set up by the government under any law or otherwise”. Furthermore, in order to expedite these cases, courts of law have been instructed to resolve such cases within a six-month timeframe. Hence, not only does this ordinance criminalise defamation against civil and military institutions, as well as public officeholders, it also makes the spreading of fake news punishable under law. All this opens a rather large can of worms.

The fact that anyone can be arrested under the pretext of promoting “fake news”, remain detained (unless bail is provided), and then be sentenced to a prison sentence of up to five years, all within a period of six months opens the doors for a whole host of wild and unsubstantiated accusations. In truth, this will only help protect those in power from the criticism they receive, particularly online, since any individual who now puts forth an opinion contrary to the state narrative will be wary of just how swiftly the system can shift into gear to ensure that they are punished. Given just how broad the ambit of “fake news” might be, it is possible that even vague charges lead to prison sentences being handed out. This will only result in a further stranglehold being established over the freedom of expression in Pakistan.

As expected, the opposition parties, in particular Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have been highly critical of this amendment, calling it an attempt to “silence the media and the opposition”. This is true. However, there are two supreme ironies here. Firstly, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act was initially passed in 2016 by the PML-N government. Secondly, similar to what has happened now, PML-N had to face the wrath of the opposition after it bulldozed the amendment through the National Assembly (NA) in 2016. Back in 2015, Shireen Mazari called the Cyber Crimes Bill a “fascist bill”, while President Arif Alvi had stated at the time,

“Cyber Crimes Bill as passed by NA Standing Com. is actually close to a ‘Cyber Crime’ itself if allowed to pass. I will move amendments in NA.”

Evidently, PTI has changed its tune on the matter since then. The party which decried the Cyber Crimes Bill when it was in the opposition has now strengthened the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act once it came into power. Ultimately, while Pakistan’s political parties continue to bicker amongst themselves on this issue and change their stance when convenient in order to suit their position, the people of Pakistan are the ones who continue to lose the most. The amendments made to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act will only bolster the ability of the state to clamp down on any unwanted criticism, and this is a worrying sign for all those who value freedom of speech in Pakistan.