Islamabad, July 30 (IANS) The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) amendment 2025 is facing resistance as a large number of Pakistani journalists are rejecting the law, saying it clashes with the freedom of speech guaranteed under the country’s constitution.
According to a report in the European Times, around 600 journalists and media practitioners in Islamabad – under the banner of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists – rejected the PECA amendment law and demanded a review of the legislation, emphasising that it clashes with free speech guaranteed under the constitution.
“The convention produced a rare display of unity, but it also reflected the scale of the grievance. Journalists described unsafe working conditions, collapsing pay, increasing vulnerability to intimidation and the erosion of reputations built over years of work,” the report noted.
It said that the declaration of the journalists and media practitioners shows that it is not a narrow dispute with professionals but a wider attack on civil liberties.
“The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) has moved from being a contested cybercrime law to a central instrument in the state’s pressure campaign against journalists, according to recent reporting and press-freedom assessments,” the report stated.
“The Pakistan Press Foundation documented at least 233 incidents involving journalists between January 2025 and April 2026, including 67 assaults, 67 criminal complaints, 11 arrests, 11 detentions and three abductions. Of the criminal complaints recorded in that period, 34 invoked PECA. Notices and summonses from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency have become a recurring pattern, often following reporting that authorities deem inconvenient,” it added.
Citing rights and media groups, the report said that the law is being used to discipline the commentary, reporting and criticism that touch the powerful interests.
“The pressure on Pakistan’s press has not been confined to courtrooms and cybercrime notices. The Pakistan Press Foundation’s report for the 16 months to April 2026 recorded a broad pattern of intimidation, from assaults and detentions to legal complaints and digital abuse,” it added.
“In one cited case, journalist Benazir Shah reported that an AI-generated video of her had been circulated online through an account followed by the federal information minister. The report described such abuse as deeply personal, gendered and intended less to contest a story than to destroy a reputation,” the report highlighted.
The report also noted the economic struggle of the press in Pakistan with coercion and official pressure.
“The PPF report said the government withheld official advertisements from Dawn, describing it as an attempt to financially squeeze one of the country’s leading English-language newspapers,” noted the European Times.
–IANS
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