Legislation with vendetta

With PECA legislation signed into law, freedom of the press has gone for a toss. It is a pity that no consideration was shown to concerns from stakeholders in the business of information, and pieces of wisdom from the newsmen community were simply discarded. Likewise, the Senate of Pakistan exhibited no sympathy to the cause of fundamental rights and did not find it necessary to revisit the exigency-laden draft passed by the lower house. Moreover, the treasury members, even after they confessed that haste was exhibited and that they will go slow before legislating it into a law, looked the other way and none from the media industry were taken on board. Lastly, the President of the Republic too went ahead to give his assent to such an adverse and vendetta-driven format of legislation.

The impugned law, however, has been challenged in the Lahore High Court. The petitioners are qualified in praying that the dictum is inconsistent with various provisions of the Constitution, and is being used as a tool for silencing dissent and crippling freedom of speech and expression. The focus of PECA Amendment Act, 2025 apparently is to intimidate the flourishing trend of social media in Pakistan, which is being seen as generating a narrative other than the ruling dispensation's policy. But the point is that Pakistan is cracking down on social media at a time when the Trump administration has formally recognised the role of digital activism, and has brought it on a par with conventional journalism.

For a country like Pakistan, which has high literacy-poverty, easy and cost-free flow of information and education should be encouraged, and should not be gagged on the premise of otherness. The government's uneasiness with cybercrime laws and 'fake news' dissemination are understandable as there are irresponsible elements using it for vested interests. But that dilemma can only be overcome in consultations with civil society and journalist bodies, and not in going solo. Ironically, the PML-N that had campaigned against PECA in yesteryears, and the PPP that regarded it as black laws have compromised on grounds of an unsound logic.