Islamabad, 19th July, 2017: Today, in the Senate of Pakistan, Senator Sehar Kamran (TI) while speaking on the “threat to freedom of expression by misuse of the Electronic Crimes Act and the impunity with which crimes are continuously committed against journalists and media persons”, said the apprehensions opposition had when the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 was passed have proven to be true today. She said it is extremely unfortunate that while it was stated that this Electronic Crimes Act is being used for political reasons to curb freedom of expression and free speech enshrined in the Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
Senator Kamran said the misuse of this Act is also a clear violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that “everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference”. She said we were told that this Act must pass as there are serious threats posed to the national security but we are witnessing that Pakistan is being turned into a security state as people are being arrested over their comments on social media.
Senator Kamran stated that the Parliament was informed in May 2017 that since the present government came to power, the cyber-crime wing of the FIA has registered nearly 900 cases. She asked where the government vigilance and action against the sectarian and propaganda pages which are being operated openly on social media as recent media reports informed that41 of Pakistan’s 64 banned outfits are present on Facebook in the form of hundreds of pages, groups and individual user profiles. The incumbent government was unable to take action against those involved in ‘Dawn Leaks’ which in my opinion were the biggest electronic crime but social media activists and civil society members are being actively targeted, she added.