Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) together with civil society and journalistic organizations has challenged the PECA change law 2025 in Lahore High Court.
The opposition leader for the Punjab assembly, Ahmed Bachhar, along with other petition against the Peca Act 2025, filed through lawyer Azhar Siddique. The petition has appointed the provincial government, the chief secretary and others as respondents.
The petition claims that the PECA Requests Act violates Article 19-A in the Constitution. It says the law does not define “fake news” that allows authorities to feel any news as false and intervene in political reasons.
According to the petition, the changed law requires journalists to reveal their news sources, which is a violation of journalistic ethics. The petition requests the Court to declare the PECA change law constitutionally and cancel it. In addition, it calls on the right to stop any actions under the law until a final decision is made.
Previously, a division bench from Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday sought several arguments about the appropriateness of a petition against the Prevention of Electronic Crimes.
The SHC bench, led by Chief Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, took the petition against PECA changes. Barrister Ali Tahir, the lawyer of the petitioner, stated the bench that they had challenged section 2R and 26A in Peca.
The lawyer said section 26A criminalized transmission and receipt of information by declaring it “false and false”. He added that sections G and H of the law used the words “false, false and wrong representation” in a very vague way.
Previously, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court in Pakistan, which contested the recent changes to the law on the prevention of electronic crimes (PECA), with reference to concern over their influence on freedom of expression and human rights.
The placement, which was moved by citizen filed by Muhammad Qayum Khan, called on the point of point to crack down the changes and call them “Ultra Vires” to the legislature’s constitutional authority.
The petition is also seeking a full legal review of both the recent changes and the original PECA law, arguing that they are violating fundamental freedoms.
