PECA 2025 challenged in SC with prayer for full court formation
Pakistan
Muhammad Qayyum Khan, a citizen, filed the plea
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2025 have been challenged in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Muhammad Qayyum Khan, a citizen, filed the plea and made the president, National Assembly speaker, Senate chairman and law secretary respondents.
The petitioner contends that the latest amendments to the law contravene fundamental human rights and provisions of the constitution.
He said the bill had been passed by the speaker of a sham assembly and the president elected through it.
Khan requested the apex court to declare the amendments null and void and form a full bench to hear the case.
“The court should also take stock of the original PECA,” he demanded.
WHAT’S THE CONTROVERSY?
The amended law has become controversial even before it was enacted. A few days ago President Asif Ali Zardari approved the PECA Amendment Bill 2025 vociferous protests by opposition and journalists.
Earlier, the Senate approved the controversial bill and the Digital Nation Bill 2025 after National Assembly’s nod.
The bills, which kept the government and the opposition at daggers drawn for several days, were moved by Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Federal Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain on behalf of the interior minister.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is also an ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in the Centre, also voted in favour of the bills. The PTI opposed the bills.
The PTI senators lodged their protest by gathering in front of Deputy Chairman Syedal Khan Nasir's dais. The opposition members raised slogans against the approval of the PECA bill and tore its copies.
Journalists, on the other hand, staged a walkout from the Press Gallery to register their protest.
JOURNALISTS TAKE TO THE STREET
Journalists across Pakistan took to the streets against the controversial law and demanded its immediate repeal.
Demonstrations erupted in major cities, including Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta, with journalists raising slogans against the government and rejecting the legislation.
Leading the protests were Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Afzal Butt (Islamabad) and Secretary General Arshad Ansari (Lahore), joined by senior media figures, civil society representatives, and prominent journalists including Asma Shirazi and Mazhar Abbas.
They contended that PECA was a draconian law and an attempt to suppress the press freedom.
