Senate approves PECA Amendments amidst opposition uproar

Pakistan’s Senate formally approved the controversial amendments pertaining to the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (2025) on 28 January. The recent development took place a day after the Senate Standing Committee on Interior approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2025 on Monday, 27 January amidst public outcry over the changes made without stakeholder input. The bill will now be sent to the President for formal approval before it becomes an act, a merely ceremonial process. The proposed PECA amendments include three years imprisonment for spreading fake news, creation of a social media protection authority for regulating online content, as well as the creation of a new investigation agency called the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency.  The highly debated and criticised amendments to PECA were fast-tracked through the National Assembly last week.

Throughout recent weeks, and especially in the last week, journalists, human rights defenders, civil society, and the opposition protested these controversial amendments proposed to the country’s cyber crime laws, which threaten to curtail freedom of expression and promote mass censorship and surveillance by the State. Last week’s protests culminated in members of the opposition raising slogans and banging desks, and journalists staging an organised walk-out from the press gallery during the Friday Senate hearing. The Senate committee (Interior) meeting held on Monday also featured opposition from journalists present, whereas the Chair of Senate Committee on Interior Faisal Saleem Rehman in his opening remarks claimed that the Senate committee had not received any written feedback, concerns or comments from any journalist body. The sole opposition to the amendments from political parties in this meeting came from the JUIF’s Senator Kamran Murtaza. Senator Irfan Siddiqui of PML-N downplayed concerns about the amendments, stating there was “no need to fear” the changes. While criticising the lack of consultation with journalists before the bill, he assured that if the law is misused against the media, he would stand with journalists.