Pakistan Will Never be Shariah Compliant Without Anti-Piracy Enforcement

The road to a truly Islamic society cannot be selectively paved. If riba is haram, so is ghasab (usurping someone’s rights or property), which directly applies to piracy.

Our policymakers, ulema, and civil society must now broaden the conversation around Shariah compliance. Piracy should be addressed with the same resolve and institutional support as interest-based banking.

The goal to establish a totally Shariah-compliant state remains a main aim while Pakistan keeps changing its political and economic systems.

Raihan Ali Merchant, chairman of Z2C Limited, told ProPakistani,

So, while PTA will shut down websites or IPTV apps which show culturally inconsonant content, they will put the responsibility of shutting illegal or pirated content on PEMRA. Unless both work together to stop piracy and porn, we will continue to sit on the religious fence.

Rooted in the values established at the moment of independence, this vision demands every aspect of the country, its laws, economics, cultural framework, and digital practices to line up with the Islamic principles.

If Pakistan really wants complete Shariah compliance, it has to face a moral and structural contradiction presented by this disconnection.

Pakistan’s lack of IP enforcement leads to US retaliation

It is no secret that the lion’s share of Pakistan’s exports goes to the US. It is also a well-documented fact that the lion’s share of taxes collected in Pakistan comes from multinational corporations. To continue a fruitful relationship with the US and MNCs, Pakistan needs to enforce local actors and companies that violate intellectual property laws.

The state should take notice of the local actors and organisations, whose illicit actions are causing widespread embarrassment for the country. This also impacts Pakistan’s ability to attract foreign direct investment.

For nearly a decade, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has stated that Pakistan is weak on enforcement. For nearly a decade, Pakistan’s leaders have read this and done nothing about it.

The 2025 301 Special Report from the USTR is expected to be worse for Pakistan for a handful of reasons, particularly due to investigative reporters and expert commentary. In April 2024, the Daily Dot exposed the names of all the Pakistani ISPs and telecoms that are openly pirating American, European, and Indian content.

“Pakistan must implement a comprehensive strategy to tackle these difficulties effectively,” said Sarah Iqbal, a partner at Akhund Forbes, a multi-jurisdictional corporate and commercial law firm, in a paper for the International Bar Association. “It is essential to revise current laws to address the complexities of digital piracy and online counterfeiting.”

She said the changes should provide specific consequences for digital IP violation, as well as simplifying the procedures for registering and safeguarding IP in the digital era.

“Improving the enforcement mechanism is equally important,” she said. “Specialised training for law enforcement officials and judges on IP matters can enhance their capacity to handle such situations effectively and sensitively.”

Experts concede that rights enforcement is either too costly, politically sensitive, or overlooked by regulators.

“Legally, Pakistan does have copyright laws and has committed to international agreements, such as the Berne Convention that protect content rights,” said Hamza Nizam Kazi, a corporate and technology lawyer having experience in the telecom industry. “But enforcement has been weak or inconsistent, and in many cases, cable operators air pirated content because there’s high consumer demand.”

If Pakistan is really headed toward Shariah compliance, then this ethical discrepancy has to be resolved. We cannot argue the moral high ground on interest while ignoring the theft of digital content, software, and intellectual property.

In the aftermath of the Daily Dot’s exposé:

• ProPakistani reported that cinemas were being shuttered because the media regulator disallows Indian content in cinemas but does nothing to stop ISPs, cable companies, and OTTs from doing the same, that too illegally.
• Express Tribune predicted the 29% Trump tariffs by reporting a series of IP violations, due to which Pakistan risks facing economic sanctions for indirectly sponsoring the piracy of American media IP.
• Other media outlet noted that artists frequently face unauthorized reproduction and distribution of their work.

Cultural Integrity and Digital Consumption

Piracy functions as an invisible influencer, introducing ideas, attitudes, and images that may not be consistent with national identity or Islamic principles, in the absence of curation, oversight, or ethical filtering. In order to effectively combat digital piracy, a multifaceted approach is necessary.

This approach includes

• integrating religious framing by encouraging clerics to address the impermissibility of piracy in Islam during sermons;
• launching public awareness campaigns through media, schools,
• influencers to educate citizens on the ethical, economic,
• spiritual harms of piracy;
• promoting the development and adoption of halal-certified local streaming platforms that offer affordable and legitimate content to the masses.

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