Islamabad, Jan 4 (IANS) The amendments to Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) were made in an opaque manner and passed by the Parliament in January last year without any consultations or debate, and though Senators had said that the amended law would not be used against journalists, the promise was broken as was clear from the intent behind introducing these amendments, a rights activist said.
“The results of this opaque, undemocratic process have been damaging in terms of the kind of changes made to the law; how cases have been filed against lawyers, journalists, and activists; and the chilling effect this has had on citizens and the media alike. Wide-ranging procedural and substantive changes in Peca have been highly damaging,” Usama Khilji, Director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights, wrote in a report in the Dawn.
“The National Cybercrime Investigation Authority (NCCIA) was formed under the law, which is essentially a new name for the FIA’s cybercrime wing, the investigation authority under Peca since 2016. Only 15 reporting centres exist currently with an in-person reporting requirement, which serves as a significant barrier for people to register a complaint, leading to a case under Peca. The 2025 amendment undid a December 2023 amendment to Peca that had permitted complaints under the law to be filed at any police station in Pakistan,” he added.
The 2025 Peca amendment has provided the state, through the NCCIA, a free hand to prosecute any individual who is considered critical of state policies. In 2025, the NCCIA called in several journalists for inquiries under Peca related to their work. Several cases were registered against journalists under Peca, with the independent media platform Raftar’s founder, Farhan Mallick, arrested in February 2025 under Peca charges, Hum News journalist Khalid Jamil arrested under Peca in August 2025, and a case was filed against Muhammad Aslam from Vehari under Peca for reporting on alleged corruption in a road project.
In July last year, an Islamabad court, after receiving a request from NCCIA, ordered the blocking of 27 YouTube channels of journalists for “anti-Pakistan” reporting, some of which were later suspended upon appeal.
“Peca is also being used against lawyers and human rights defenders. For instance, in the case of human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha, a Peca case filed by the NCCIA relates to seven tweets from the year 2021 posted by Imaan Mazari on matters of the law, human rights, and enforced disappearances in the country, and Chattha’s supposed crime is reposting these tweets,” Khilji wrote in the Dawn report.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court directed the lower courts in Islamabad to follow due process in the case where several hearings were being held on the same day, while witness statements were being recorded in the absence of the accused.
“During cross-questioning, the NCCIA official stated that government officials are allowed to say the same things that the couple is being prosecuted for saying. In such an environment, journalists and lawyers are being turned into heroes for simply doing their jobs, as that itself has become an act of courage. A parliament that passes laws without deliberation, an executive that arrests its citizens for exercising their right to freedom of speech, and a judiciary that does not protect the rights of citizens that it functions for need a reminder of the notion of fundamental rights and justice,” he added.
–IANS
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