President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday assented to three bills, including the controversial “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Amendment Bill, 2025.
The President also signed the Digital Nation Pakistan Bill 2025, and the National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Bill 2025.
The bill was approved by the Senate on Tuesday, just a day after being passed by the National Assembly by a majority vote.
PECA Act
The government introduced the PECA bill in the National Assembly to punish with imprisonment which may extend up to three years or with a fine of two million rupees or with both for false and fake information on social media.
“Whoever intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits or transmits any information through any information system, that he knows or has reason to believe or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest in general public or society shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend up to three years or with fine which may extend to two million rupees or with both,” Section 26A of the bill reads.
The proposed law provides for the establishment of bodies like the Social Protection and Regulatory Authority, Cybercrime Investigation Agency and Social Media Protection Tribunal.
According to the bill, the Authority shall have the power to issue directions to a social media platforms for removal or blocking of online content, if such online content: (a) is against the ideology of Pakistan (b) incites the public to violate the law, take the law in own hands, with a view to coerce, intimidate or terrorise pubic, individuals, groups, communities, government officials and institutions (c) incites public or section of public to cause damage to governmental or private property (d) coerce or intimidate public or section of public and thereby preventing them from carrying on their lawful trade and disrupts civic life (e) incites hatred and contempt on religious, sectarian or ethnic basis to stir up violence or cause internal disturbance (f) contains anything obscene or pornographic in contravention of any applicable law (g) is known to be fake or false or there exist sufficient reasons to believe that the same may be fake or false beyond a reasonable doubt (h) contains aspersions against any person including members of judiciary, armed forces, Parliament or a provincial assembly or (i) promotes and encourages terrorism and other forms of violence against the state or its institutions.
Apart from that, the Senate passed the Digital Nation Pakistan Bill 2025, presented by the law minister. The bill, the minister said, aims to digitize the “whole system to align with the modern-day requirements.”
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has rejected the amendments and announced a strike on Tuesday.
“The Senate of Pakistan adopted draconian amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2025, aimed at suppressing independent media, social media, and freedom of speech in the country,” it said in a press release.
The PFUJ said that it had previously appealed to the government and elected representatives to consult all stakeholders before passing the amendments, but their requests were ignored.