ffice bearers and members of the women caucus of National Press Club, Islamabad, face a bizarre situation. Some of them have ended up being accused of a crime allegedly for their willingness to investigate a harassment complaint following a personal quarrel between two members of the club.

A tussle between a former husband and wife has resulted in a police case filed under Prevention of Electronic Crime Act by cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency, charging administrative members of the caucus who were trying to resolve the matter between the two through an investigative committee.

The complainant, Nasir Khan Khattak, has alleged that he had gained access to a WhatsApp group the committee had convened to discuss the matter. He accused his ex-wife and four other women journalists of defaming him.

The authorities were quick to register cases under the law against four female journalists, including the National Press Club secretary, for discussing a private issue involving an NPC member in a WhatsApp group.

The FIR filed by the complainant reads, “…the key accused (Saima Shahid) publicly uploaded/ transmitted/ disseminated blackmailing, harassing, threatening, derogatory, filthy, loathsome messages from WhatsApp account namely “NPC Women Journalists Caucus (created by Nayyer Ali with four admins and 171 members) defaming, disgracing, humiliating and destroyed the honour, dignity and modesty of the complainant, among his friends and community. During investigation, sufficient evidence came on record against the accused. So that the case is made out against the accused lady; user admins Myra Imran, Nayyer Ali, Sehrish Qureshi and other involved person(s)/ if any will be identified during the investigation.”

“The complainant filed an application in February this year. The case was lodged recently after an inquiry,” NPC President Azhar Jatoi said, adding, “The complainant and the key accused had been a married couple who divorced earlier this year.”

“This is a mockery of law. This is total abuse of law. The admins of the group had nothing to do with the actual case. They were only trying to sort out matters through a committee as both individuals were members of the club. There has been no further development in the case. The club is pursuing the matter with the relevant authorities,” he said.

“This shows how such laws are liable to be used for intimidation,” one of the journalists said. “If you are on ‘good terms’ with the relevant agency, you can implicate anyone in a case alleging anything from harassment to blasphemy.” 

The International Federation of Journalists and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, have condemned the arbitrary registration of the cases and called for their swift withdrawal. The case, according to the accused, was registered by the FIA without allowing the four journalists to explain their position.

Rights defenders regret that the FIA’s action was executed without providing journalists a chance to explain their side. They say this is a case of PECA being misused to intimidate journalists for taking action on a harassment complaint, lodged by a female member of the NPC.

“Registering a case against journalists for hearing and addressing the complaint by a female member against her ex-husband, is gross misuse of power by the FIA,” Afzal Butt, the PFUJ president, said. He expressed solidarity with the affected journalists and demanded that the case be dismissed.

“This shows how such laws are liable to be misused for intimidation,” one of the women journalists said. “If you are on ‘good terms’ with the relevant agency, you can implicate anyone in a case alleging anything from harassment to blasphemy.”

The journalist union has also demanded action against the officials and the applicant who illegally registered the case, saying this amounts to harassment and intimidation of journalists.

Since the passage of the PECA in 2016, the IFJ and the PFUJ have been warning that the law is likely to impact on freedom of expression and access to information, with journalists, activists and political opponents targeted under the law and the government enforcing frequent shutdowns of online platforms.

Recent amendments to the cybercrime law, passed by the National Assembly earlier this year have further widened the PECA’s scope to further restrict online freedom of expression, enable further regulatory control of content and grant additional government powers to oversee social media platforms.

The author is a staff reporter. He can be reached at vaqargillani@gmail.com