Convention for Collective Opposition Against PECA Amendment Announced for March 1 at Karachi Press Club
Journalists’ bodies, legal experts, and human rights groups joined forces to oppose the recently passed Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act 2025 (PECA), terming it a “draconian law.” A convention has been scheduled for March 1 at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to plan a collective opposition against the legislation.
The decision was taken at a consultative meeting convened at KPC, co-chaired by KPC President Fazil Jamili and Secretary Muhammad Sohail Afzal Khan. Representatives from media bodies, bar associations, rights groups, and labor unions attended the meeting, where participants strongly condemned PECA 2025, calling for its immediate repeal.
KPC President Fazil Jamili underscored the need for a unified struggle against the “black law,” stressing that journalist bodies, the legal community, human rights activists, and civil society must stand together. “The government had promised to engage with us before finalising the draft. Unfortunately, those promises were never kept, and the bill was rushed through. We are now left with no choice but to launch a joint struggle to defend press freedom and the rights of journalists,” he said.
KPC Secretary Muhammad Sohail Afzal reiterated that journalists across the country had rejected PECA and would continue efforts for its complete withdrawal.
Addressing the gathering, Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed, former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, warned that the law posed a serious threat to press freedom and dissenting voices across society. “I believe that in [the] current situation, one should not pin their hopes on courts for any remedy,” he said. “It’s time to unite every aggrieved or affected stakeholder and launch a joint struggle. Whether they are students, teachers, journalists or labours. It’s everyone’s issue.”
Other prominent figures at the meeting included Karachi Bar Association General Secretary Abdul Rahman Korai, All Pakistan Newspaper Society’s Shahab Zuberi, Anwar Sajdi of the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors, Pakistan Union of Journalists (Dastoor) Secretary General Alauddin Hamdam Khanzada, and Karachi Union of Journalists (Dastoor) President Hamid Rehman, among others.
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