Any society which fails to safeguard the right to freedom of speech will find itself teetering dangerously close to destructive jingoism and oppressive fascism. This should have become abundantly clear to all Pakistanis when they recently turned their attention towards the media in Modi’s India after the recent military escalation between the two countries following the Pulwama attack. Any person not towing the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party’s line had his or her patriotism questioned, leaving only the most vociferous chest thumping nationalists with room to express themselves. In such a scenario, there is nothing to keep a ruling government’s policies in check until it is too late. This is precisely why free and unbiased media is referred to as the fourth estate of democracy.
Sadly, the situation is quite similar here in Pakistan. This was made abundantly clear after a notification of an inquiry was lodged by the FIA cybercrime Wing against journalists and other groups who were found to have been participating in a “targeted social media campaign” against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) during his visit to Pakistan in February. Their crime? Sharing pictures of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. However, it seems this is just an ill-thought-out attempt to intimidate those Pakistanis who have a less than favourable opinion of the Crown Prince, since there is no statute that makes this action a crime. One can’t help but wonder what the FIA hoped to achieve here, considering the international media spotlight that the grizzly Khashoggi murder has been under for the past several months.
Regardless it is a cause for concern that the FIA cybercrime wing is being used as a censorship tool. Especially considering that MBS’s Saudi Arabia is part of several unsavoury international geopolitical tussles. What does the future hold? Will action be taken against Pakistanis who bring attention to Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen? What about those who would present a favourable image of Iran and advocate a closer relationship between Islamabad and Tehran? It seems only time will tell. *