IF post-2016 have been the years when Peca’s misuse in opposition to these exercising their proper to freedom of speech and press freedom was examined, 2025 was the yr when the gaps within the state’s skill to completely abuse the legislation have been stuffed.
The amendments to Peca have been made in an opaque method and handed by parliament in January 2025 with none consultations, public debate, and even parliamentary debate. These of us who managed to attend a listening to at a Senate committee have been knowledgeable that the members had been informed to vote for the modification because it was, with no room for any adjustments. Senators mentioned that the amended legislation wouldn’t be used in opposition to journalists, however like most guarantees this was additionally instantly damaged as was clear from the intent behind the amendments.
The outcomes of this opaque, undemocratic course of have been damaging by way of the form of adjustments made to the legislation; how instances have been filed in opposition to legal professionals, journalists, and activists; and the chilling impact this has had on residents and the media alike.
Extensive-ranging procedural and substantive adjustments in Peca have been extremely damaging. The Nationwide Cybercrime Investigation Authority (NCCIA) was fashioned below the legislation, which is actually a brand new identify for the FIA’s cybercrime wing, the investigation authority below Peca since 2016. Solely 15 reporting facilities exist at present with an in-person reporting requirement, which serves as a big barrier for folks to register a grievance resulting in a case below Peca. The 2025 modification undid a December 2023 modification to PECA that had permitted complaints below the legislation to be filed at any police station in Pakistan.
Furthermore, the 2025 modification modified the definition of a complainant to be any individual “having substantial causes to consider that the offense has been dedicated” along with the “sufferer”, which considerably expands the flexibility to file a case — from an aggrieved individual to any third social gathering. The opposite vital change is that now the complainant doesn’t must be a “pure individual” however might be any group, together with a authorities division. One other vital change in definition consists of increasing “social media platform” to incorporate “any person who owns, offers or manages on-line info system for provision of social media or social community service”, which expands the purview of the legislation to folks administering on-line teams or channels as properly.
Peca is getting used in opposition to legal professionals, journalists and human rights defenders.
The modification additional criminalises free speech within the nation by introducing Part 26-A that stipulates punishment of three years in jail and/or Rs2 million effective for “false or faux info”, with out defining what that entails. The modification additionally makes Part 20, which was struck down by the Islamabad Excessive Court docket in 2022 however continues for use illegally, cognizable and non-bailable. These two sections are liable for criminalizing free speech on the web in Pakistan at a time when over 90 nations have decriminalized defamation, one thing that the IHC tried to do.
In follow, the 2025 PECA modification has given the state by way of the NCCIA a free hand to prosecute any one who is seen as important of state insurance policies. In a constitutional democratic republic, the results of this are disastrous. And any constitutional protections that will exist in idea have been blurred after the twenty seventh Modification the place the position of the chief within the appointment of judges has been expanded, with their skill to switch judges with out oversight.
A number of journalists have been referred to as in, in 2025, by the NCCIA for inquiries below Peca associated to their work. For example, Farhan Mallick, the founding father of unbiased media platform Raftarwas arrested in February 2025 below Peca fees. Hum Information Journalist Khalid Jamil was arrested in Islamabad in August 2025 below Peca. Muhammad Aslam from Vehari has a case below Peca for reporting on alleged corruption in a highway mission. Iftikhar Ul Hassan of Samaa information from Vehari additionally had a Peca case in opposition to him by the municipal authority for a social media submit about actions by native administration in opposition to a housing society. Muhammad Akbar Notezai of this paper was despatched prosecution notices by the FIA for a corruption investigation which the RSF and Freedom Community have highlighted as retaliation in opposition to investigative reporting. In July 2025, upon NCCIA’s request, an Islamabad court docket ordered the blocking of 27 YouTube channels of journalists for “anti-Pakistan” reporting, a few of which have been later suspended upon attraction.
Peca can also be getting used in opposition to legal professionals and human rights defenders. For example, within the case of human rights legal professionals Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha, a Peca case filed by the NCCIA pertains to seven tweets from the yr 2021 posted by Imaan Mazari on issues of the legislation, human rights, and enforced disappearances within the nation, and Chattha’s supposed crime is reposting these tweets. The Supreme Court docket needed to step in to direct the decrease courts in Islamabad to observe due course of and process within the case the place a number of hearings have been being held on the identical day, and witness statements being recorded within the absence of the accused. Throughout cross-questioning, the NCCIA official acknowledged that authorities officers are allowed to say the identical issues that the couple is being prosecuted for saying.
In such an setting, journalists and legal professionals are being become heroes for merely doing their jobs as that itself has turn into an act of braveness. A parliament that passes legal guidelines with out deliberation, an govt that arrests its residents for exercising their proper to freedom of speech, and a judiciary that doesn’t shield the rights of residents that it features for want a reminder of the notion of elementary rights and justice.
It’s unsustainable for a regime to hold on with such oppression in a various republic like Pakistan. It’s elementary that residents be allowed to specific their opinions with the protection of their establishments fairly than being victimized by them. For that, parliament should undo these draconian amendments and decriminalize defamation.
The author is director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy discussion board for digital rights.
X: @UsamaKhilji
Revealed in Daybreak, January 2nd, 2026
