ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday asserted that the federal cabinet had given the approval for a presidential ordinance to amend the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016.
The information minister confirmed the development to a local daily. Fawad said under the amendments, defaming individuals on social media would be declared a punishable offence and courts would be obliged to give a verdict on cases registered under Peca within six months.
Earlier, the federal minister, in a Tweet, said two important bills relating to the election commission’s code of conduct and social media have been sent to the federal cabinet for approval.
وفاقی کابینہ کو دو اہم قانون منظوری کیلئے بھیجےگئےہیں،پہلےقانون کےتحت پارلیمنٹیرینز کوالیکشن کمپین میں حصہ لینےکی اجازت دی گئ ہے جبکہ دوسرے قانون کے تحت سوشل میڈیا پرلوگوں کی عزت اچھالنے کو قابل تعزیرجرم قرار دے دیا گیا ہے،عدالتوں کوپابند کیا گیا ہے کہ فیصلہ چھ ماہ میں کیا جائے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 19, 2022
“Two key laws have been sent to the federal cabinet for approval. The first is to allow parliamentarians to participate in election campaigns, while the other is to make it a punishable offence to insult people on social media,” he wrote.
The development comes days after Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed dismay over a malicious social media campaign targeting the premier and First Lady Bushra Bibi and termed it “pathetic and intolerable”.
“Unchecked media freedom is devastating and such smear campaigns targeting personal lives should be discouraged,” PM Imran was quoted as saying during the meeting.
The prime minister was referring to the recent report published in an English weekly which indirectly implied that Premier Imran and his wife had developed differences and the first lady had been living with her friend in Lahore.
Last year, the information technology ministry notified new social media rules, allowing the telecom regulator to block any website or platform on the directions of a court, the federal government or interior ministry or under any law of the time.
The rules – titled the “Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules, 2021” – have been framed under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016.
Under the rules, social media companies will have to register with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) within three months as well as establish their offices in the country “as and when feasible”.
The “service provider, social media company and significant social media company” will not knowingly host, display, upload, publish, transmit, update or share any online content in violation of local laws.
Tech companies had also threatened to discontinue their services in Pakistan if the rules were not amended, saying the regulations would make it difficult for them to continue their operations.
