ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday warned that the government will launch a “massive-scale crackdown” against those spreading fake news on social media platforms, urging podcasters, vloggers and journalists to disseminate news responsibly.
Pakistan’s government has increased its efforts of cracking down on fake news on social media platforms this year. In April, the government established the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to investigate and prosecute cybercrimes across the country. In January, it tightened the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) with amendments, saying the changes were aimed at combating hacking, online harassment and data breaches.
Pakistani opposition parties, journalists and rights groups, on the other hand, have accused the government of passing laws to stifle dissent and criticism. Media houses and news organizations have cited frequent harassment and intimidation by authorities. Pakistan’s government denies the allegations.
“We will sit with the information ministry and the NCCIA to launch a massive-scale crackdown,” Naqvi told reporters during a news conference in Islamabad. “We cannot allow that you spread fake news this way and promote panic throughout the country, and then no one says anything to you.”
The minister clarified that he believed in responsible journalism, saying that reporters should be ready to back their news stories with evidence. He said the government considers those people as professional journalists who respond to checks and balances within their news organizations, and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).
“Those who spread fake news are not journalists for us,” he said. “So please, if you create vlogs or have a podcast or do something else, spread the news with responsibility. This cannot happen that daily a new panic spreads among the nation and then no one is held accountable.”
‘THINK ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY’
Naqvi briefed reporters about the government’s repatriation drive against illegal residents, saying that from Sept. 17, 2024 to Mar. 31 this year, the government has deported around 469,000 people through the northwestern Torkhan border pass with Afghanistan.
Pakistan launched the deportation drive in 2023 after a spate of suicide attacks in the country that it blamed on Afghan nationals, without providing evidence. Pakistan’s state media reported earlier this month that over 1.5 million Afghan nationals have been deported from the country since the drive began.
Naqvi said the repatriation drive was being carried out “very successfully” in Pakistan’s Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces. He said the same was not the case in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan.
“Over there at this time, they [illegal Afghan nationals] are being protected,” the minister alleged.
He said the federal government had de-notified Afghan refugee camps in KP districts Kohat, Peshawar, Nowshera, Khyber and Waziristan, yet they were still functional. The interior minister said Afghan nationals were involved in suicide attacks that took place last month in Pakistan’s Islamabad, Peshawar and northwestern Wana cities.
Naqvi said starting next week, station house officers (SHOs) will be tasked to identify illegal Afghan nationals in their respective areas.
“We are sending this message to the KP government repeatedly that you think about your country,” Naqvi said. “Then do your politics and everything else. The most important thing is where your country is at and what it is suffering from. You need to address that first.”
Islamabad blames the Afghan Taliban government for providing sanctuaries to militant groups, mainly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or Pakistani Taliban, and facilitating attacks launched by them inside Pakistani territory.
Afghanistan rejects these allegations and has said Pakistan’s security challenges should be resolved by Islamabad internally. Tensions between the two have led to deadly border clashes that killed dozens of soldiers on both sides in October before they agreed to a temporary ceasefire.
