Islamabad, Feb 20 (FN Agency) Ignoring criticism from stakeholders and digital rights activists, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is all set to promulgate an ordinance making defamation of people and institutions on social media a cognisable offence, with a jail term being increased from two to five years, Dawn reported on Sunday. According to reports the drafts of the proposed legislations, including an amendment to the Elections Act 2017 allowing members of the parliament to take part in election campaigns, had already been circulated among the federal cabinet members for approval, said Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government ever since assuming power in 2018 has made several attempts to regulate online content through legislations such as the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules-2020 and the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules-2020. However, they have faced stiff opposition from digital rights groups and journalist bodies such as the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), who have asserted that such measures will inevitably become ‘a disguised form of censorship’, and demanded the government rescind the social media rules, and forcing it to roll back its plan to establish one authority to regulate all media, including social media, Chaudhry said that in the proposed new law related to online defamation, courts will have to decide the cases in not less than six months. and under the new legislation it would become a non-bailable offence.
He further informed that the prison time in such cases has also been increased from two to five years through an amendment to Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016. He also said the two laws, including the one related to parliament member’s right to run election campaign, would be enforced through promulgation of presidential ordinances. The PTI government, which has so far promulgated over 70 ordinances since August 2018, has beencriticised for relying heavily on ordinances for legislation.