The federal government has decided to further empower the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) by amending the FIA Act with a section of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that criminalizes the propagation of misinformation and rumors about state institutions on social media.
The cabinet members authorized a summary of the revisions to the schedule of the FIA Act, 1974 last week, that was circulated by the Ministry of Interior.
The summary maintains that the FIA has indicated that social media is currently flooded with false information and rumors against state institutions and organizations with the intention of causing or inciting or is prone to causing or instigating any officer, soldier, sailor, or airman in Pakistan’s Army, Navy, or Air Force to revolt, offense, or otherwise neglect or fail in his duty as such.
It goes on to say that these rumors and false information were being spread with the objective of instilling fear or panic in the general public or any section of the general public, with the goal of inducing them to commit an offense against the state or against public peace.
These are likely to compel any group or community of individuals to engage in any offense against any other group or community.
The FIA proposed that the subject matter be prosecutable under PPC Section 505 (relating to public mischief), which was not already present in the FIA Act’s schedule, and asked the state for permission to put the provision in its scheduled offenses.
Subsection one of PPC Section 505 specifies that anyone discovered committing the related offense would face jail time for a term of up to seven years, as well as a fine.
An FIA official anonymously revealed that previously, they required cabinet approvals and other bureaucratic procedures. With the introduction of this section, they would now be able to take action without further delay.
The co-founder of a digital rights organization Bolo Bhi, Farieha Aziz, reacted to the move by saying that the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) has emerged as the state’s preferred tool against nonconformists in recent years. Previously, it came under the police’s jurisdiction and thus required warrants and permissions from courts, but now, to avoid processes that require judicial authorization and warrants, it seems that the FIA’s hand is being strengthened so that the crackdown may be carried out more quickly.
