The foundation of the law of PECA (Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act) was laid by PMLN in 2016. During the PTI era, when it was used against their own workers, PMLN protested with journalists against the law introduced by them. Now their passion has emerged once again because they have a government backed by the establishment at the moment, and they want to further amend the PECA Act to control narratives built on social media.
Before this, the Punjab government passed the defamation bill so that, from somewhere, efforts are made to suppress freedom of speech. According to the draft, there will be 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to 10 lakh rupees for people found to violate the act that involves building a narrative on social media, or, in other words, criticizing the powerful sect in Pakistan. This is basically against the freedom of expression and human rights. Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has already issued their reservations on this act.
The growth of online journalism has scared them so much that they want to completely finish it, and they are passing laws like these to carry on their activities lawfully. Firstly, they are making the spread of fake news a base for these amendments. Is fake news actually fake? Will the people of the state, their ministers, their senators, and their leaders also be given 5 years of imprisonment and a 10-lac fine? They lie every day, whether it is the opposition or the government; like yesterday when Faisal Wada, the government senator, blamed PTI of killing their own people whose bodies were found in PIMs hospital. Isn’t this fake news?
Did Wada know that PTI people killed them? If not, would such statements by government officials be subjected to being classified as fake news under PECA? Or it will only target the journalist community rather suppress them. Electronic and print media are already under the influence of government to some extent, and they want to control growing social media as well; the same case of deaths of PTI workers can be used as an example where government officials and much of electronic print media supported the government narrative, whereas the news of deaths only circulated on social media and some senior journalists like Hamid Mir reported it. If fines are imposed according to these standards, then the first thing that should happen is that no one should get punished. Will this act be implemented against the people of the state? Or it is against those opposing the narrative of the establishment.
The state addresses all the online activities as digital terrorism. This act was genuinely a brainchild of Maryam Aurangzeb of the PMLN, and we all know how able she is; perhaps she was unable to handle her online roasting. When this was brought in 2016, after that we saw that it was welcomed in the PTI era in the same way. So this idea is where there is no scope for debate, and differences of opinion shall remain. Maryam Nawaz once also admitted in the Islamabad High Court that it was our mistake when this was imposed on their own workers, and then after coming to power, not only are they putting additional clauses in PECA, but the law of Punjab regarding defamation was also brought without any consultation by her government. Now, this authority of digital rights was being talked about for a long time, and there was a lot of discussion on it. Minister Atta Tarrar made a promise to journalists in a meeting that, whatever draft would be there, it would be shared with you first, and after that we will table it and talk with the stakeholders, but now nothing has been shared with journalists at any forum. News of the draft is there, but the government is not accepting or denying it. They just want to table it silently and get it passed, just like what they did earlier.
The issue of fake news is not only in Pakistan; this issue exists in the whole world, and strategies are being made to deal with it, but Pakistan is the only country in the world where people of intelligence agencies will sit in a body and decide what is fake news and what is real news. What security mindset can tell which news should be known and which should not be known?
How did you create this mindset by spending billions of rupees in the name of fifth-generation warfare? Who were the people who gave this narrative to our youth that only one person in Pakistan is honest, the rest are all thieves? So when you yourself have created a narrative by spending billions of rupees on this, then now you are finding a solution that whoever supports this will be punished. You will not have so many people to beat with a stick on social media; how can you do that? The solution is not always found by being reactionary or using an iron fist in everything.
Policymakers should have talked to the stakeholders. If you want to form a body on this, then you should have brought the opinion of the senior journalists; they would have elaborated on what is fake news, what is against national security, and what action should be taken and how we can appropriately handle the matter. Even our policymakers are not free, and those in charge of this nation are unable to take criticism well because they are not taught to do so.