Fawad reiterates 'full' support for controversial PECA law

Minister says PECA ordinance a societal issue, not political

ISLAMABAD:

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Friday defended the controversial Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Ordinance 2022, reiterating his “full” support for the law.

The minister took to his official Twitter handle and said that the PECA ordinance was instrumental in protecting people’s dignity on social media.

In response to the criticism regarding the changes in PECA, Fawad claimed that it is possible to “improve the law, but to say that there should be no law or one that shouldn’t be enforced is absurd.”

PECA قانون کی مکمل حمائیت کرتا ہوں سوشل میڈیا پر لوگوں کی عزتوں سے کھلواڑ کیا جا رہا ہے قانون کو بہترکرلیں لیکن یہ کہنا کہ کوئ قانون نہ ہو یاایسا قانون ہو جو نافذ ہی نہ ہو سکےبالکل بےتکی بات ہے یہ سیاسی نہیں سماجی معاملہ ہےاور سیاسی جماعتوں کو میڈیا اصلاحات کیلئےاکٹھا ہونا چاہئیے

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 25, 2022

The minister further said that the ordinance “was not a political but a societal issue” and all political parties should “come together” for media reforms.

Fawad’s remark came a day after the Islamabad High Court Chief (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah described the PECA Ordinance 2022 as “oppressive and draconian”.

The court also extended its order to refrain the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from directly arresting anyone without the complete implementation of its standard operating procedures (SOPs) till March 10 – the next date of hearing.

Read: Pressure piles up on govt over PECA tweaks

The IHC CJ observed that Peca was only used to target critics of the government.

It is being said with regret that the proceedings [under Peca] were initiated against those individuals who criticised the government.”

Justice Minallah noted that it did not appear as if this was happening in a democratic country.