PTI leader Shireen Mazari has claimed that some of the cabinet members in Imran Khan’s government, including her, had raised objections to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 — a controversial law that criminalised defamation and made it a non-bailable offence with five-year imprisonment.

The law, commonly referred to as Peca, was passed by the National Assembly (NA) in 2016 when the PML-N was at the helm in the Centre. An ordinance making it tougher was promulgated by President Arif Alvi during the PTI government’s tenure.

In April 2022, the Islamabad High Court had scrapped Section 20 of the ordinance, the provision that criminalised defamation and drew criticism from digital rights activists.

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Mazari said during an interview with DawnNewsTV that some members of Imran’s cabinet had also opposed the ordinance.

In fact, she added, “I had submitted a written objection, stating that this (Peca) is not right and it will come back to haunt us.

“And that is what has happened.”

Several PTI members have fallen victim to the law, notably Senator Azam Swati.

In her interview, Mazari lamented that the law was being used even after being struck down.

She shared similar grievances about the use of the sedition law, which was invalidated by the Lahore High Court last month.

“The sedition law was struck down and a day after it was scrapped, sedition cases were registered against Ali Amin [Gandapur] and Khan sahib,” she said.

The Peca law

Peca was passed by the NA in 2016 amid the opposition’s protest while the PML-N, which was in the government at the time, had used its majority to bulldoze the controversial bill.

The opposition, meanwhile, had criticised the legislation for giving the executive what it called sweeping powers that could be misused against anyone and further curb freedom of expression in the country.

The legislation passed by the NA stated that parody or satire-based websites and social media accounts could be proceeded against on ‘spoofing’, which made it an offence to run a website or send information with a “counterfeit source”. It also authorised Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officers to unlock any computer, mobile phone or other device that may be required for the purpose of investigating a crime or offence, and said that defamation would be treated as a punishable offence.

In November 2020, the erstwhile PTI government had framed social media laws under Peca, drawing criticism from digital rights activists, the Internet Service Providers of Pakistan and the Asia Internet Coalition, all of whom had termed the law draconian.

President Dr Arif Alvi had then promulgated an ordinance to amend the Peca, 2016 on February 20 last year, a day after the federal cabinet had given approval for a presidential ordinance to amend the Act.

At the time, the legality of Peca’s Section 20 was already under examination before the IHC, and two factions of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Pakistan Broadcasters Association and others had challenged the ordinance.

Among some of the most consequential changes to the Act was an amendment to Section 20 of Peca, which increases the jail term for defaming any person or institution from three years to five years.

Further, the complainant was defined as the aggrieved person, his authorised representative, his guardian in case he was a minor or “a member of the public in respect of a public figure or a holder of public office”. Online public defamation had also been made a cognisable and a non-bailable offence.

The definition of a “person” was expanded to include any company, association or body of persons whether incorporated or not, institution, organisation, authority or any other body established by the government under any law or otherwise.

The government’s move to amend Peca had drawn strong criticism from opposition leaders and media bodies, who said the measure was directed at curbing the freedom of expression and silencing the media.

However, the law was declared unconstitutional by the Islamabad High Court in April 2022, and scrapped its Section 20 that criminalised defamation.

Later, the FIA had challenged this order in the Supreme Court but the plea was withdrawn by the federal government merely hours later.