ISLAMABAD: Just one day after being tabled, the controversial Peca Amendment Bill has been passed by the NA here on Wednesday (23rd Jan, 2025).
Six Key Amendments:
1) Establishment of the Digital Rights Protection Authority (DRPA). This body will be able to delete prohibited content and punish those sharing it.
2) Illegal online content defined: Material promoting pornography, inciting violence and undermining public order.
3) Blocking Websites: The government will be able to block websites, applications and communication channels.
4) Fake information and penalties: Those propagating fake information will be incarcerated for up to 3 years and fined of up to Rs. twenty lakhs.
5) Social Media Protection Tribunal: Meant to resolve cases involving online crimes within 90 days.
6) Dissolution of Cyber Crime Wing of FIA: Newly established National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency to handle its cases.
Journalists reporting the parliamentary proceedings staged a walkout against the bill’s hasty passage sans consultations with the stakeholders.
Media professionals, holding that the bill infringes upon freedom of expression online, pointed towards its wordings that they believe would empower the government to censor critical pieces.
Nevertheless, the incumbent government believes that amendments were needed to contain those disrupting national security.
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President GM Jamali and Secretary General Rana Muhammad Azeem, while rejecting the amendments made by Govt to PECA Act, stated: “PECA Act itself was controversial and further changes made to it tantamount to a ban on freedom of the press.
“The PFUJ leadership has said that the government was making the PECA Act more controversial by means of amendments without taking the stakeholders into confidence. That is intolerable, PFUJ strongly condemns it and will protest against it.
“PFUJ has always raised its voice for freedom of the press and will now announce a plan of action for protests against these amendments in a few days.”
Newspakistan.tv
