The government must be regretting the promulgation of the amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) by which it enhanced its ability to take cognisance, enhanced the punishments and converted into non-bailable offences bailable. While the government knew that it was going to face criticism, it probably did not realize that it would face such broad-based opposition, which was also so strong. Bar associations and press bodies, including not just print but electronic body representatives, as well as bodies representing both owners and editors, as well as workers, were all up in arms against the ordinance, which all rightly saw as a violation of the freedom of press. Perhaps worst for the government was how no ministry in the federal government was ready to accept responsibility, so bad was the law. The Interior Ministry, the Information Ministry and the Information Technology Ministry all denied responsibility for the promulgation, while the Attorney General also said it was a bad law.
Prime Minister Imran Khan might want to review how the members of his Cabinet performed in respect of Cabinet responsibility, but he might also want to rethink the wisdom of getting the IT Ministry, held by the MQM(P), a coalition partner the opposition is presently wooing the hardest, in a position where it has to express differences with the government, and that too so publicly. Another irritant within this law is that it was so transparently malicious, being directed so clearly not for the public good, but against the regime’s opponents. The idea of giving a tool to the government just for 120 days, in a periodic when it was facing the most serious challenge yet to its existence, was also not going to be a good one.
The government should realize that all is not lost, and this problem is easily solvable. PECA needs revision, because between the time it was passed and now, there has been a sea-change in the media landscape, mainly because of digitization. However, instead of a narrow law meant to ‘fix’ opponents, revision based on broad-based consultations, with all stakeholders,, is needed which would produce a law which would avoid being criticized so much, and avoid being struck down by the courts, as the Isalamabad High Court has been constrained to do for this law.
