KARACHI: A journalists’ club in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has filed a case against a critic over alleged defamation under the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), which Pakistani journalist bodies have challenged in courts.
The Mardan Press Club (MPC) alleged that Zahid Khan, who manages a Facebook page under his name and claims to be associated with ‘Daily Nida-e-Watan’ and ‘Piyam-e-Khyber’ newspapers, had been running a “defamatory and negative propaganda campaign” against the club and its members for several years. The First Information Report (FIR), registered against Khan under sections 506 and 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code as well as the PECA law, says the accused had been using “highly inappropriate language repeatedly” against MPC members.
The Pakistan Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2025, enacted on January 29, includes provisions making the dissemination of “fake or false” information a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison without clearly defining “fake or false” news. Journalists and digital rights experts say they were excluded from consultations on the bill, which prevented genuine public scrutiny of the new law, and have challenged it in courts.
The PECA amendments aim to create four new regulatory bodies to regulate online content and broaden the definition of online harm. The regulatory bodies will be authorized to block and remove content based on ambiguous criteria that do not meet the standards of proportionality and necessity required under international human rights law, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International rights groups have said.
“Zahid had applied for the club’s membership, but the governing body rejected his application, deeming him unqualified for the membership,” Muhammad Riaz Khan Mayar, the MPC president, told Arab News.
“Following this, he approached the civil court and then the high court, but both forums dismissed his petition. After that, he started launching personal attacks against the press club and its members on social media, using highly inappropriate language repeatedly.”
Mayar said his press club shared concerns of Pakistani journalist bodies about the PECA law.
“The press club cannot engage in fights but has the right to seek legal recourse against persistent defamation and personal attacks,” he argued, saying that PECA was used only because it is currently in effect.
While journalist leaders supported legal action against the accused for alleged defamation, they criticized the invoking of PECA by the complainants.
AH Khanzada, secretary-general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), said the FIR should have been registered against relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, and not the PECA law.
“The journalists of the country firmly stand against the PECA law which we strongly believe has been enacted and later amendments were made to target freedom of speech and freedom of press,” Khanzada said.
“We will continue our struggle against the law, which we have no doubt is meant to suppress our voice. As we stand with Mardan Press Club against those attacking it, we believe that registering FIR under the PECA law is totally wrong.”
He urged the press club management to take back the complaint and register it, if at all necessary, under other laws.
Fazil Jamili, president of the Karachi Press Club, echoed the concerns.
“We, the journalists, strongly oppose the PECA law and no case, against anyone, should be registered under it,” Jamili told Arab News. “We also believe that the press club had every right to adopt legal course against a person who had been making personal attacks on its office bearers and members, but it should be registered under other defamation laws instead of PECA.”