A black law

On Friday, the Islamabad High Court observed that the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) amendment ordinance was promulgated in violation of Article 89 of the constitution since a session of the National Assembly had already been convened when the president promulgated the ordinance. IHC Chief Justice Minallah was hearing petitions by media bodies, political leaders and journalists against the Peca ordinance. A government can promulgate a presidential ordinance when there is an urgency of such an intensity that it cannot wait for the next assembly session. One wonders what the urgency was in this case. The way this government has bulldozed ordinances left, right and centre over the course of its three-year rule shows that they either do not believe in the parliamentary process of legislation or they know they cannot go through the process because the opposition will not side with the government.

As if the already draconian Peca law brought in by the previous PML-N government was not bad enough, the PTI government decided to weaponize it even more. Even before the promulgation of the ordinance, civil society and human rights organizations, journalist bodies, media professionals, and political leaders had protested against this draconian law. The government had initially pretended that no such ordinance was in the offing, and then suddenly bypassing democratic debate and parliamentary discussion it enforced the new law unilaterally as an ordinance. The most objectionable part of the ordinance is related to the amendment in Section 20 of the law whereby the government has made defamation a crime that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. For societies in general, it is significant that political debates take place without any fear of being punished. Defamation laws already exist in the country and there are procedures in place to enforce them. Through this ordinance, the government has tried to take a highly regressive measure that will only lead to more censorship. Public office-holders become targets of criticism due to the nature of their work; the public has a right to criticize and decry or even deride their behavior and performance.

It would be an understatement to say that journalism in Pakistan has had a rough few years. This has been documented by local and international journalists’ rights bodies, with the Reporters Sans Frontiers’ 2021 list of ‘Press Freedom predators even including Prime Minister Imran Khan due no doubt to this government’s dismal performance regarding press freedom. It would make sense for a government that has consistently targeted dissenting and critical journalists, media houses, and the civil society to opt for a law that so obviously curbs freedom of expression. The government has used ‘fake news’ as the excuse to peg the Peca amendment. But this Trump-esque policy of peddling fake news itself and then labelling any news that is critical as ‘fake news’ has heightened censorship in mainstream media and led to fears the social media may soon face the same restrictions. It is encouraging to see the opposition parties finally take a stand against this draconian law that was ironically brought in by the PML-N and which has now been further amended into an even worse form. Discouraging free speech is in nobody’s favour and leads to oppressive measures by the authorities. While hate speech and incitement to violence should always be checked by law, Peca – including the amendment ordinance – is a black law that is certainly not the answer to this challenge.