A day earlier, the Senate passed amendments the Pakistan’s cybercrime laws, triggering protests across the country by media workers.
The new amendments add Section 26(A) to Peca, which seeks to penalise perpetrators of “fake news” online. It says anyone who intentionally spreads, displays, or transmits false information likely to cause fear, panic, or unrest in society may face up to three years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to Rs2 million, or both.
Zardari signed off on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2025, as well as the Digital Nation Pakistan Bill and National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Bill, according to a press release issued by the presidency.
Following the president’s assent, JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza said that Zardari had assured the party that he would not sign the bill immediately. “Asif Zardari should have kept the commitment he made with us,” Murtaza added.
He claimed that the president had said that the matter would be discussed in a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Afzal Butt said in an interview on Geo News it was “very unfortunate” that the president had refused to listen to persistent calls by journalist bodies who were pointing out issues in the Peca amendments.
“The PPP has greatly disappointed us but this is not a new thing for us. We will have a meeting an hour from now … we will resort to legal recourse as well as move on to the next stage of the press freedom movement, that began yesterday, that will be a black day across the country against the president’s move,” he continued.
The development “puts to rest any ‘hope’ some journalists were holding out and fig leaf PPP was presenting, Digital rights activist Farieha Aziz said.
In an interaction with journalists in the Parliament House media lounge a day ago, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman had reiterated her party’s support for media freedom and freedom of expression.
“In the next session, we must introduce new amendments to safeguard citizens’ rights and media freedom, regardless of whether the bill is passed,” she had said. It may be noted that the PPP voted in favour of the controversial amendments.
A report issued by the Senate Standing Committee on Interior says the law “primarily seeks to modernise … the legislative framework for combating cybercrimes in Pakistan”, while the interior secretary emphasised that the bill was written in good faith and aimed to “protect the general public … and to make the in-field act more effective to protect people’s rights”.
In Section 26A of the amended law, the term has been explained as any information disseminated by a person that “he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest in general public or society”.
The law also contains dissolving the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cybercrime Wing and setting up a new National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to investigate illegal activities on social media.
It further entails the the establishment of the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority (SMPRA), which would perform a range of functions related to social media such as education, awareness, training, regulation, enlistment, blocking and more.
