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Pakistan outlaws disinformation with 3-year jail term

Asia

By AFP | Jan 28, 2025

**Pakistani policemen detain a kite flyer at a park in Islamabad on March 12, 2017, during the Basant Kite Festival.** [Aamir Quresh, AFP]

Pakistan criminalised online disinformation on Tuesday, passing legislation that enshrines punishments of up to three years in prison, a decision journalists say is designed to crack down on dissent.

The law targets anyone who "intentionally disseminates" information online that they have "reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest".

The law was rushed through the National Assembly with little warning last week before being approved by the Senate on Tuesday as journalists walked out of the gallery in protest.

Senior journalist Asif Bashir Chaudhry, a member of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, told AFP the government had assured reporters they would be consulted but said they were "betrayed and backstabbed".

"We genuinely wanted a law against misinformation, but if it's not being done through open discussion but rather through fear and coercion, we will challenge it on every available platform," Chaudhry said.

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"Even under dictatorships, legislation was not forcefully rammed through parliament the way this government is doing now."

The bill will now be passed to the president to be rubber-stamped.

Analysts say the government is struggling with legitimacy after an election plagued with rigging allegations and with Pakistan's most popular politician, former prime minister Imran Khan, in jail on a slew of corruption charges his party says are politically motivated.

Khan's supporters and senior leaders have also faced a severe crackdown, with thousands rounded up.

Khan's name is censored from television and editors have reported increasing monitoring of their programming.