Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry on Friday submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) a draft of proposed amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 that seek to equate punishment for a false accusation of blasphemy to the punishment blasphemy.

The punishment for blasphemy in Pakistan ranges from several years in prison to a death sentence. Under existing laws, a person making a false accusation can only face proceedings under Section 182 of the Pakistan Penal Code, with a maximum punishment of six months, or a mere Rs1,000 fine.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had asked for the draft in connection with an order he passed in a case pertaining to circulation of allegedly sacrilegious content on social media.

The new draft was presented after the court rejected an earlier draft, while pointing out multiple shortcomings in it including the omission of a punishment for those who falsely accuse others of blasphemy.

On Friday, Justice Siddiqui remarked that the law finally seemed to hold false accusers of blasphemy accountable, adding that it was ‘once again the courts which had to get it done’. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) separately presented to him a report on blasphemous and pornographic content on the Internet. The report said that the authority had so far blocked 550 blasphemous websites. It added that 763,000 links to pornographic content had been blocked, of which 279,000 were blocked following court orders. The hearing of the case was adjourned until March 16.

Published in Daily Times, February 17^th 2018.