Peca | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday showed its concern over registration of cases against journalists under the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and called for urgent action to address growing concerns of media persons regarding FIRs and arrests of journalists. The Senate committee headed by ruling PTI’s Ali Zafar issued the directives after it was informed by the Ministry of Interior that 689 cases had been registered under the Peca law throughout the country, including nine FIRs [First Information Report] registered against journalists. According to an official handout, the committee received a detailed briefing from officials of the information and interior ministries regarding the number and nature of cases registered under Peca since its passage from the parliament in January, with a special focus on journalists, media professionals, digital content creators, and social media activists. The committee was further informed that only ...

• Delay in submission of response to challenges irks court • Fear has gripped media industry, judge told ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday issued a final deadline to the federal government to respond to the identical petitions filed against “co­­ntroversial amendments” in the cybercrimes law, and hinted at deciding the matter ex parte if re­­plies to the challenges were not received. Justice Raja Inaam Ameen Minhas issued final notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice, Mi­­nistry of Information Techno­logy, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA, and the Pakistan Telecom­munication Authority (PTA) to submit their replies to the petitions filed against controversial amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). The judge made it clear that the hearing will proceed even if responses were not filed. The petitions filed by the Pak­istan Federal Union of Journa­li­s­­ts, anchorpersons, and various journalist organisations have chal­­lenged the expanded scope of Peca, which, th...

SWABI: The police have arrested two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) for using social media platforms against the security forces. Imran alias Manu was taken into custody for trying to create public unrest during the recent Indo-Pak border tensions by “posting derogatory words” against the Pakistan Army’s chief, Inter-Services Public Relations director-general and security agencies through his Facebook account, according to an FIR registered at the Tordher police station on Friday. The police said an inquiry had been initiated against the accused. They said the accused had been sent to Swabi judicial lockup after appearing in a local court. Also, the Kalu Khan police arrested Zahid Zaman of the Sheikh Jana village in Razaar tehsil on Thursday after booking him under Peca. The FIR said that Zahid had tried to “create distrust and hatred among the public by using malicious words” against the Pakistan Army’s chief and ISPR DG through his Facebook account. The p...