Digital dissent

It seems the government is not tired of opening Pandora’s boxes. Its recent decision to try tech-savvy people for ‘digital terrorism’ is politically-personified and will sooner than later hit snags. Though there are no two opinions that there are anti-social elements who resort to social media to further their designs, it is quite a difficult task to distinguish between political dissent and so-called anti-state activity. All content that goes on virtual channels could be subject to scrutiny, but cannot be outlawed on whims and wishes of dispensations in power. While the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, any blanket legislation to gag it would lead to civic unrest.

The government’s setting up of special courts in Islamabad to try digital activists under the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, is in duress. The law has been made applicable to the federal territory, whereas such ‘undesired’ digital activity could generate from any part of the country. The devil is in the details as the intention, perhaps, is to nail down the arrested PTI office-bearers. If so, then the move is unlikely to stand in the court of law on merits of non-partisanship.

It is also noticeable that before revoking PECA 2016, the narrative of the government was to come down hard on the opposition elements who take to social media for criticism. A firewall to check mushrooming of anti-government content and views of pro-opposition analysts on Vlogs, which are top-trending these days, is in the making, and coincided with another notification to legalise phone-tapping by intelligence agencies. Such moves have led to rise in political temperature and pushed pestering instability to new heights.

Content and views proliferating on social media can neither be checked through arbitrary measures, nor is it possible to skim through more than 100 million users’ state of mind. The way out is to let pluralism flourish, and the government and its organs retort back too with qualified responses on socio-political misgivings.