Journalists, civil society activists reject Peca amendment as black law

The Karachi Press Club has announced it will consult all the relevant stakeholders for launching a full-fledged protest drive against what it called the “anti-press bill” passed by the parliament recently to amend the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), saying that the protest campaign will continue till the government withdraws the controversial amended law that goes against the freedom of speech in the country.

The announcement to this effect was made at a roundtable discussion, titled “Defending Truth, Safeguarding Freedom: Media in the Crossfire in the Wake of Peca Amendment Bill-2025”, which the KPC hosted on Thursday.

Concerned political leaders, civil society members, social and human rights activists, and senior journalists spoke at the roundtable. They unanimously rejected the amended Peca law as a black law and a move on the part of the government to impose undue curbs on the right to a free speech and free media in the country.

They called upon the government to immediately withdraw the law for the sake of free press in the country. The participants of the moot said that further consultations would be held to use all the lawful means, including the launch of a protest campaign, to compel the government to withdraw the law.

The speakers also called upon the government to hold prior consultation with the concerned stakeholders to adopt laws aimed at regulating the functioning of news media in the country. They said the parliament should adopt laws related to media only after taking into account the suggestions put forth in this regard by the concerned stakeholders. They urged the government to hold talks with the representative bodies of journalists to amend Peca.

Senior PPP leader and former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said the resistance movement and culture in the country would come to an end with undue restrictions imposed on conventional and social media platforms in the country.

He said the parliament should thoroughly hold a debate before passing any such controversial laws. Rabbani said that both houses of the parliament hadn’t been holding discussions on such important proposed laws.

Rabbani told the audience at the moot that such proposed laws had been referred to the standing committees of the assemblies just to fulfil the formalities. He said that apart from politicians, the civil society should also be held responsible for the present sorry state of affairs in the country as the culture of resistance no longer existed in the country.

The former Senate chairman said the parliament had lost its worth with regard to legislative work in the country. He announced his support for the protest drive of media persons against the controversial amendment bill.

KPC President Fazil Jamili lamented that the Pakistan Peoples Party had colluded with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to controversially amend the Peca. He said the Peca Amendment Bill had become an act of law after President Asif Ali Zardari had given assent to it. He said the newly passed amendment law went against the right to free speech given in the constitution.

KPC Secretary Sohail Afzal said the freedom of speech couldn’t be exercised in the country after the adoption of the new amendment law. He said the government didn’t favour the existence of a free press in the country through the passage of such controversial laws.

Senior journalist Azhar Abbas said the government had not consulted the representatives of media persons before the adoption of the Peca Amendment Bill. He said the functions performed by the working journalists would be affected due to the new law.

He said the past government had shared a working paper with the representatives of media before amending Peca, but the present regime had shied away from any such mandatory consultation process. He was of the view that the difference of opinion could no longer be sustained in the country after he passage of the new law.

Azhar Abbas further said that they had been contacted just two hours before the passage of the new bill by the National Assembly to share proposals to improve the draft of the bill.

Barrister Salauddin said the political parties in power in the country shouldn’t be blamed for the newly passed law as other influential quarters in the country were behind such anti-free press moves in the country. He lamented that the Pakistan Peoples Party no longer served the cause of freedom of speech in the country.