Citizen Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020: Hearing of 'Media Matters for Democracy' official's petition at IHC tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: A constitutional writ petition has been filed before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging Citizen Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020.

IHC Chief Justice, Athar Minallah, will hear the case tomorrow (Monday).

Asad Baig, an Islamabad-based journalist and the founder and the executive director of Media Matters for Democracy, Pakistan's leading media development organisation, through advocate Usama Khawar moved the court.

The petitioner has requested the Court to suspend the implementation of the Rules and declare them ultra vires to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996, the fundamental rights of the citizens secured in the Constitution, namely, right to access to information and freedom of expression, the doctrine of delegated legislation, and Pakistan's international commitments and obligations.

The petitioner has made federal government and the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) as respondents.

Usama Khawar said the civil society, rights watchdogs, journalists, activists, and global internet giants had opposed the new rules for regulating social media.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed its concerns that the authorities wanted to use the regulations to control the "freedom of expression and opinion in the guise of protecting "religious, cultural, ethnic, and national security sensitivities".

He stated that the superior bars of the country, including the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association, had also voiced concerns about the impugned rules.

Similarly, the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an association of leading internet and tech companies including Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, AirBnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Yahoo, Grab, LinkedIn, and Rakuten, has warned the prime minister that the rules would severely cripple the growth of Pakistan's digital economy and make it extremely difficult for its members to make their services available to the country's users and businesses.

The counsel contended, "The office of national coordinator has been given broad and sweeping powers affecting the fundamental rights of citizens. National coordinator's powers are dictatorial and [has] no place in a democratic society."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020