Social media thinks PECA amendments made to save the powerful

ISLAMABAD: The government has come under fire over the recently promulgated Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act Ordinance 2022 that has been termed “draconian” by Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan.

The amendments were introduced through a presidential ordinance to bypass parliament as if it would have been introduced to lawmakers it is likely that there would have been a long-drawn debate over whether it should be promulgated or not.

Media organisations, lawyer bodies and political parties have reacted strongly to the promulgation of the ordinance and challenged it in the high courts.

Today, when Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted in defence of the defamation law, referring to Islamic laws, he received strong backlash from social media users.

In the tweet, he said that defamation was dealt with under civil law but false accusations and ridiculing were the well-defined Islamic laws with strict recommended penalties for the violators.

He said effective prevention of misuse of the criminal law could be debated instead of opposing its existence.

Netizens, however, were not convinced with Fawad’s reasoning and took him to task, saying the government’s move was to save the powerful sections of society and not for weaker segments, including women as the minister has claimed.

The amendments, brought through a presidential decree, do not have a single word to protect women, the downtrodden, innocent and young from social media evils like blackmail.

It is also important that while the government claims to introduce the ordinance to counter fake news, it has not provided its definition.

Here’s how social media reacted to the minister's tweet: