Representatives of the media, civil society, and legal fraternity, along with information technology experts on Sunday criticised the government over what they called an attempt to infringe the right of freedom of expression through proposed legislation on cyber-crime.
The government has approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015 from the National Assembly’s Standing Committee and forwarded it to the House for legislation.
In an interactive session organised by National Press Club Islamabad, the participants expressed their serious apprehensions over some controversial clauses in the proposed legislation. They asked the government to review ambiguous terms that can be misused to put pressure on media practitioners, social media activists and the society.
They said that government has political objectives behind the bill and wants to stifle freedom of expression and freedom of speech through the legislation.
Usama Khilji, a free speech campaigner, said the government failed to take the civil society and representative of IT industry into confidence over the cybercrime legislation.
“In a democracy, it is unfair for a government to come up with legislation on a sensitive issue without active participation of the citizens and relevant stakeholders,” he said.
He said the government wants to serve its political objectives through the legislation as some of the clauses of the bill infringe upon freedom of expression of the citizens.
Tahir Malik, Professor at National University of Modern Languages, said that a society could not progress without critical thinking and fair competition to acquire modern techniques and skills.
“All segments of the society including journalists, doctors and engineers should be engaged to raise voice against the cybercrime bill as it is bound to curtail freedom of expression if passed by the Parliament,” he said.
Malik said the mainstream and social media are modern age tools that help democratic governments address social issues like poverty and crime.
Shaharyar Khan, President National Press Club, likened the cybercrime bill to the Press and Publication Ordinance promulgated by President Ayub Khan in 1960.
“It is unfortunate that a democratic government wants to impose a law on journalists and citizens that even dictators failed to do,” he said, adding that the journalists concerns about the bill would be conveyed to the government.
Khan warned that if the government tried to pass the bill in its present form then journalists would stage protest demonstrations against the government across the country, besides blocking coverage of parliamentarians.