Daily Times

Punjab Governor Saleem Haider has said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is against the controversial defamation law passed by the provincial legislature earlier this month.

“I tried to stop the [passage] of the defamation bill as governor,” he said while speaking to the media in Dubai on Sunday. His statement comes a day after interim Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan signed the bill into law in the absence of Haider.

The Punjab Assembly, on May 20, passed the Punjab Defamation Bill, 2024 amid a strong and noisy protest by the opposition as well as immense backlash from journalists and rights bodies including those based internationally. “I did not sign the bill. However, it will become law automatically after the passing of 15 days,” the incumbent governor added.

However, according to him, legislation is required to stop the defamation of the people on social media. Governor Haider also said that he would meet the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the media bodies to address their concerns after returning to the country.

A day earlier, the central Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the media bodies announced boycotting the coverage of government affairs including official events, such as National Assembly and provincial assembly sessions and upcoming federal and provincial budgets to protest the approval of the defamation law. Terming the Punjab Defamation Bill, 2024, against human values, the meeting announced to lead a joint struggle against the “black law” and to take effective legal action against it.