The Senate approved on Tuesday, controversial amendments to the country’s cyber crime laws, the Electronic Crime Prevention Law (PECA) 2016, in the middle of a strike of journalists from the press gallery and opposition protests.
The Electronic Crime Prevention Draft (amendment), 2025 adds section 26 (a) to Peca, which seeks to penalize the perpetrators of “false news” online. He says that any person who intentionally extends, shows or transmits false information that can cause fear, panic or disturbances in society. You can face up to three years in prison, a fine of up to RS2 million, or both. The bill now expects the president’s assent to become law.
The journalists have assaulted the legislation as an “attack on freedom of expression”, while the opposition PTI accused the PPP, an ally of the ruling coalition, of hypocrisy, hitting their support to the bill.
The PCA bill was transferred today in the Senate by the Minister of Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain on behalf of the Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi.
As the bill was presented, journalists present in the Senate press gallery organized a strike in the protest, recreating scenes witnessed last week when the amendments were approved by the National Assembly.
Shibli Faraz de PTI, the opposition leader in the Senate, spoke against him, highlighting that, although laws were made to protect people, the Peca amendment was aimed at “aiming at a specific political party.”
“When a new law is introduced, its intention is analyzed. It is already social networks or in any other means, it must operate within the specific limits, ”said Faraz. “The purpose of this bill is to aim at a specific political party.”
He added: “The laws are made to protect people, not to oppress them. You need time to prepare a law correctly. “
Faraz seemed to refer to the way the NA ran the controversial amendments to Peca last week, attracting opposition protests and causing a strike of journalists. The members of the PPP had expressed their support during the vote.
Meanwhile, responding to Faraz after the approval of the bill, the Minister of Industries, Hussain, said the bill was not in stone or addressed to journalists.
“This law will not deal with television newspapers but on social networks,” he said, adding that the amendment could also “improve.” “Journalists have nothing to do with this bill,” he insisted.
The Senate also approved the bill of the digital nation, which now expects the president’s assent, since it was already approved by the NA. The Senate session was postponed indefinitely.
According to a report issued by the Interior Committee of the Permanent Senate, the bill “mainly seeks to modernize … the legislative framework to combat cyber crimes in Pakistan”, while the Secretary of the Interior emphasized that the bill was written in good faith and aimed to “protect” protect “protect general public … and make the most effective intermediate law to protect people’s rights.”
In section 26 of the amended law, the term has been explained as any information disseminated by a person who “knows or has reasons to believe that they are false or false and probably cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder in general , public or society “.
Amnesty International has warned that changes in the “draconian” Peca “tighten government control even more about the very controlled digital panorama of Pakistan.”
The HCRP has also expressed a deep concern, saying that “it would probably become another means to attack political workers, human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents by effectively penalizing criticism of state institutions.”
Journalists Protest stage, assault the government
After the green light of the Senate to the widely criticized sin amendments, journalists in several important cities throughout the country, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, organized protests against them.
One of the journalists who participated in those was the Federal Union of Pakistan journalists (PFUJ).
In one of those demonstrations in Lahore, the secretary general of Pfuj, Arshad Ansari, warned the government not to “steal the rights of citizens and strangle journalists.”
“You will have your programs and your assemblies, but remember, nobody will cover it. The media are the one that makes you a politician. It is the power of the media in which you are standing, ”he said.
“When you come to our throat, we will come to yours,” said Ansari. “You will fall but we will not.”
“We will give a drop of poison to Peca and we will bury it for life. You will not be able to catch us, and your plans will be destroyed, ”he said.
By announcing “aggressively protesting, campaigning and celebrating demonstrations”, the PFUJ Secretary General declared that a joint action committee would require an action plan.
“You will have protests in your assemblies. The assemblies of the four provinces will not work. There will be boycott, the Na will be boycotted, we will close the streets, we will leave their homes.
“We will not let you live until the sin ordinance is withdrawn.”
Insinuating challenging the sin amendments in legal forums, Ansari expressed the hope that the Superior Courts and the Supreme Court “would serve justice according to the Constitution.”
The main journalist Wusatullah Khan said that media workers should have realized the bill before, since it was being discussed during the last months, and added that “there were leaks too.”
Talking with TV DawnnewsHe said: “The organizations or journalistic channels that are making noise now, there is a saying for this in English,” the blow that one remembers after the fight must be beaten in the face itself. “
He added that despite the points of the bill covered by the media, no one realized that he still created a fuss when the NA approved the bill.
“Yesterday I heard the president of Pfuj, AFZAL BUTT, to say they were called to consult; So why didn’t they tell journalists to organize or think about a protest? Wusatullah said.
“This is the same government that said when Peca One arrived in 2016 that it was for the benefit of the public,” he said, referring when the original PCA law was approved by the PML-N of the then Government.
“Now that it is too late, they are creating a uproar. What kind of resistance is this that could not stop Peca in 2016 or none of the following amendments, either during the possession of PTI or this government?
“We simply remember about the past, but we don’t change our attitude,” he concluded.
The Senate passes the draft law of the digital nation
Meanwhile, the Senate also approved the ‘Pakistan Law of the Digital Nation, 2024, which was transferred by the Minister of Law Azam Nazeer Tarar in the name of the Minister of IT, Shaza Fatima Khawaja.
Presenting the bill, Tarar said that the bill was aimed at digitizing the entire system to align with modern requirements.
The bill had already been approved by the NA, where it was introduced by Khawaja, the Minister of State for IT and Telecommunications.
The bill aims to create a digital identity for citizens, to centralize social, economic and governance data, and provide the transformation of Pakistan into a digital nation, allowing a digital society, digital economy and digital governance.
However, an amnesty official, in the statement of last week on Pec that do not incorporate any protection against human rights. “
According to the State Pakistan radioThree other bills to amend existing laws were introduced today in the Senate. These included the prevention of smuggling of the migrants amendment bill, 2025, the prevention of trafficking in the amendment of people, 2025 and the draft law of the amendment of emigration, 2025.
The three bills were transferred by Tantar on behalf of the Interior Minister.
Changes proposed to Peca
The invoice, a copy of which is available with Dawn.comIt proposes a new disposition, section 26 (a), to Peca, to penalize the perpetrators of “false news” online.
Section 26 (a) declared: “Who intentionally disseminates publicly or transmits any information through any information system, that he knows or has reasons to believe that they are false or false and probably cause or believe a sense of fear, panic or disorder or riots in general or society will be punished with imprisonment that can extend up to three years or with a fine that can extend to RS2M or with both ”.
The bill also suggests dissolving the Wing of Cybernetic Crimes of the FIA and establishing a new National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to investigate illegal activities on social networks.
In addition, it proposes the establishment of the regulatory authority for the protection and regulation of social networks (SMPRA), which would perform a variety of functions related to social networks such as education, consciousness, training, regulation, enlistment, blockade And more.
According to the bill, the president of SMPRA will have the power to order the immediate blockade of any illegal content on social networks, while the authority will have the power to block the content that contradicts the ideology of Pakistan or encourages citizens to violate the law.
It will also be authorized to block illegal content aimed at members of the Judiciary, Armed Forces, Parliament or Provincial Assemblies. The content eliminated during parliamentary procedures cannot be reloaded on social networks.
The amendment also proposes the establishment of a Social Network Complaints Council. In cases where social media platforms do not comply with the directives, the authority will have the power to address the Court for application.
The Federal Government will also establish a social means protection court to enforce the amended law.