Journalists’ union in southwest Pakistan launches hunger strike against new cybercrime law

Journalists’ union in southwest Pakistan launches hunger strike against new cybercrime law
Media workers of Balochistan Union of Journalists launch hunger strike against new cybercrime law protest in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 12, 2025. (AN photo)
Short Url
Updated 12 February 2025
Follow

Journalists’ union in southwest Pakistan launches hunger strike against new cybercrime law

Journalists’ union in southwest Pakistan launches hunger strike against new cybercrime law
  • Bill creates four new government bodies to regulate online content, broadens the definition of online harm
  • Parliament adopted amendments last month in the context of what is widely seen as a digital crackdown

QUETTA: A union of journalists in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Wednesday set up a hunger strike camp to protest recent amendments to the country’s cybercrime law that opposition parties, the media fraternity and digital rights activists have widely said threaten online speech.

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. Stakeholders like journalists and digital rights experts say they were excluded from consultations on the bill, which prevented genuine public scrutiny of the new law. The government denies the law is aimed at suppressing digital speech.

The amendments to the Electronic Crimes Act create four new government bodies to regulate online content and broaden the definition of online harm. The government bodies are 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, rights bodies like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have said.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) last week challenged the new law before the Islamabad High Court, urging it to strike them down for being “unconstitutional.” Journalists and their unions have also held protests against the amendments in several cities across the country. 

On Wednesday, the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) launched a three-day hunger strike camp outside the Quetta Press Club, calling the new law “draconian.”

“Though the government says the amendments were proposed and approved to prevent fake news on social media, we are concerned that the government would target print and electronic media under the PECA Act also,” BUJ President Khalil Ahmed told Arab News.

He said the impoverished Balochistan province’s issues, including social and economic underdevelopment and security, did not get adequate coverage on mainstream media and many journalists from the region used online platforms to highlight the challenges. 

“Journalists in Balochistan province would be affected under this act because the majority of journalists here are forced to discuss provincial issues on social media platforms through vlogs and blogs,” Ahmed said, adding that the BUJ’s protest movement would continue until the government abolished the new amendments to the PECA Act.

Saleem Shahid, a senior journalist and former vice president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, described the new law as being against “basic human rights.”

“Under these news amendments, authorities can detain journalists without giving them a chance of a legal trial in courts and fine them rupees two to three million rupees,” Shahid said. 

“When we speak about freedom of speech and independent journalism, we should be more responsible and pursue ethics of journalism.”

One of the regulatory bodies created under the new law, the Social Media Protection Tribunal, comprises government-appointed members rather than independent members of the judiciary.

Another new body, the Social Media Protection and Regulation Authority, is authorized to order any social media company to remove or block content deemed to be “against the ideology of Pakistan,” be known to be “fake or false,” or to cast aspersions on various public officials. The authority can also require any social media company to register with it and impose any conditions it deems “appropriate” upon registration.

Parliament adopted the amendments last month in the context of what is widely seen as an escalating crackdown on digital speech in Pakistan, including frequently shutting down the Internet and throttling Internet networks. 

The social media platform X has already been banned since days after February general elections last year as allegations of rigging emerged online. There are regular reports of VPN restrictions, and the government is also moving to implement a national firewall, though it denies these moves are aimed at censorship.


President Erdogan gifts Turkish Togg electric car to Pakistani PM

President Erdogan gifts Turkish Togg electric car to Pakistani PM
Updated 50 sec ago
Follow

President Erdogan gifts Turkish Togg electric car to Pakistani PM

President Erdogan gifts Turkish Togg electric car to Pakistani PM
  • Turkish president gifts Sharif T10X model SUV of Togg, Turkiye’s first homegrown electric vehicle
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan also gifted Indonesian counterpart, Malaysian premier Togg cars this week

ISLAMABAD: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gifted a model of the Turkish homegrown electric vehicle Togg to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his two-day visit to Islamabad this week. 

Erdogan gifted Sharif the T10X model Togg SUV, with a video clip showing both leaders examining the SUV’s black exterior. Sharif can be seen in the video, sitting behind the wheel with Erdogan beside him in the passenger seat as the Pakistani premier drove it. 

Later, First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari drove Erdogan and her father, President Asif Ali Zardari, in a Togg SUV as media persons watched. 

“I thank my dear brother President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and my respected sister Madam Emine Erdogan, for honoring us with their gracious presence and for bringing along a high-powered delegation from Turkiye,” Sharif wrote on social media platform X on Thursday after the Turkish president departed. 

Pakistan was Erdogan’s third stop in his three-nation Asia tour this week. In his first two stops in Malaysia and Indonesia, Erdogan gifted a similar model of the electric vehicle to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. 

Pakistan and Türkiye signed 24 agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on Thursday as Erdogan arrived in the country to discuss how to boost trade and economic ties between the two nations. 

Erdogan said he had also held extensive discussions with the Pakistani prime minister on bilateral, regional and global issues.


Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water

Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water
Updated 13 February 2025
Follow

Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water

Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water
  • Pakistan high court last Friday issued directives to ban washing cars at homes in Punjab
  • Punjab Environment Agency says will impose fine of Rs10,000 [$35.57] on violators 

ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Thursday banned washing cars at home, saying that it would impose a fine of Rs10,000 [$35.75] on violators as it seeks to implement a high court’s earlier directive to conserve water. 

The Environmental Protection Agency Punjab issued the directives in compliance with an order by the Lahore High Court (LHC) last Friday banning the washing of cars at home and directed authorities to consider imposing a fine of $35.57 on violators. 

The high court also directed that filling stations without water treatment plants should be sealed with an initial warning, followed by a fine of Rs100,000 [$357.50]. 

The directives came after the court heard several petitions related to ineffective measures by officials against smog, local media reports said. 

“Ban on the use of water for washing of cars and use of hose pipes in the houses,” a notification from the EPA said. “Anyone found in violation of these directions will be imposed a fine of Rs.10,000.”

The provincial agency also banned oil washing of vehicles, and ordered immediate closure of all illegal/unapproved car wash and service stations in the province in compliance with the court’s orders. 

“Mandatory installation of carwash wastewater recycling system and U-Channels at all Car wash Stations by 28th February, 2025,” the notification said.

“In case the petrol pumps are found to be lacking in their obligations in this regard, fine of Rs. 100,000/- shall be imposed on the defaulting petrol pumps, in addition to sealing of car wash area.”

The notification cited an earlier warning by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in which it had highlighted that Punjab had experienced 42 percent below normal rainfall from Sept. 1, 2024, to Jan. 15, 2025. 

The PMD had said that Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab were the most affected provinces where rainfall deficits of 52 percent, 45 percent, and 42 percent, respectively, have been recorded.

Water-stressed Pakistan has a population of 241.49 million people with a growth rate of 2.55 percent. Linked to that, per capita water availability has been on a downward trend for decades. 
In 1947, when Pakistan was created, the figure stood at about 5,000 cubic meters per person, according to the World Bank. Today it is 1,000 cubic meters. 
It will decline further with the population expected to double in the next 50 years, climate change experts say, pointing out that Pakistan needs intervention on a range of water-related issues: from the impact of climate change to hydropower, from transboundary water-sharing to irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, and from drinking water to sanitation.


Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan

Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan
Updated 13 February 2025
Follow

Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan

Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan
  • Pakistan Army says militants killed in operations in Dera Ismail Khan, North Waziristan, Khyber and Lakki Marwat districts
  • Pakistan has seen a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between TTP and the state broke down in November 2022

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 13 militants in five separate counterterrorism operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province this week, Pakistan army’s media wing said on Thursday, vowing to eliminate militancy from the country. 

Security forces conducted five different operations between Feb. 12-13, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement, with the first one taking place in Dera Ismail Khan district in which five militants were killed. 

In North Waziristan district, another five militants were killed in two separate gunbattles while two other militants were killed in Lakki Marwat district. In the last operation, one militant was killed in the Khyber district. 

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said, referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. 

The army said it was launching sanitization operations to eliminate other militants found in the area.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said. 

Pakistan has seen a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between TTP and the state broke down in November 2022. The militants have stepped up attacks against police and security forces in recent months, with the military reporting deaths of 383 soldiers and 925 militants in various clashes in the country in 2024.

The Pakistani Taliban have frequently targeted security forces and police convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in the region.

Islamabad has frequently blamed the surge in militancy on Afghanistan, accusing it of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. 

Afghan officials deny involvement and insist that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.


Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 

Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 
Updated 13 February 2025
Follow

Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 

Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 
  • Khan says he wrote two open letters to army chief this month on alleged rigging, rights abuses in Pakistan
  • General Asim Munir says would dispatch any letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif if he did receive it

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir has denied receiving any letters from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, state-run media reported on Thursday, saying he would dispatch it to PM Shehbaz Sharif if he did receive it. 

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, said this month he had written two open letters to Munir this month highlighting the alleged shrinking space for democracy in the country due to rights abuses and “rigging” in last year’s election. 

The former prime minister was ousted from power in April 2022 via a parliamentary vote after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful army generals. Khan blames the military for colluding with his political rivals to orchestrate his ouster, a charge the military denies and reiterates that it does not interfere in political matters. 

Munir was speaking to reporters informally at a luncheon hosted for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Islamabad on Thursday when he spoke about Khan’s letters. 

“The Army Chief said he has not received any letter from anyone,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. “However, if it is received, he would dispatch it to the Prime Minister.”

In Khan’s first letter to Munir this month, he called for a reevaluation of current political policies, alleging that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was being targeted by the state.

Tensions between the PTI and the army have remained at fever-pitch especially after Khan’s brief arrest on May 9, 2023, in a land graft case that sparked countrywide protests. 

Angry supporters carrying the PTI’s flags attacked and ransacked military installations in an unprecedented backlash against the army. 

The military has called the day of the protests a “Black Day” and vowed to punish those involved. Since then, at least 5,000 of Khan’s supporters have been arrested, and dozens of his top party leaders have defected after they faced increasing pressure from the military establishment to do so, according to his supporters. The army denies the allegations. 

Thousands of Khan supporters marched toward Islamabad in November 2024 to demand his release from prison. The government says four troops were killed in the ensuing clashes by Khan supporters, a charge the PTI denies and says its loyalists were instead shot and killed. 


Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians

Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians
Updated 13 February 2025
Follow

Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians

Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians
  • Turkish President Erdogan meets Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad
  • Development takes place as life limps back to normalcy in war-ravaged Palestine

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced “unwavering solidarity” with the Palestinian people, Sharif’s office said on Thursday, reiterating Palestinians’ right to self-determination under a two-state solution. 

The development takes place as life limps to normalcy in war-ravaged Gaza, where Israel killed at least 48,000 people during the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 were taken as hostages in Hamas’ lightening offensive. 

Israel and Hamas last month reached an uneasy truce that has halted 15 months of war between the two sides. Aid trucks continue to supply food and medicines to the Palestinian people in Gaza as the fragile truce holds. 

The recent interaction between Erdogan and Sharif follows the Turkish president’s bilateral meeting with Sharif. Erdogan arrived in Pakistan late Wednesday for a two-day visit to boost trade and investment ties between the countries. 

“Both leaders also discussed recent developments in the Middle East during the course of which they expressed unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. 

He reiterated Pakistan’s call for a two-state solution with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine with pre-1967 borders and Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital, Sharif’s office said. 

The statement also comes in the wake of recent controversial remarks by American President Donald Trump to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian residents and redevelop the enclave.

Under Trump’s scheme, Gaza’s about 2.2 million Palestinians would be resettled in Egypt, Jordan and other countries, and the United States would take control and ownership of the coastal territory, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan also expressed concern in a phone call about Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump’s comments have been rejected by Egypt and Jordan, while Arab countries and Pakistan have strongly criticized it.