President approves controversial PECA Amendment Bill 2025

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday approved the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Amendment Bill 2025 despite an outcry from journalists, media houses and opposition parties.

The president has also given his assent to the Digital Nation Pakistan Bill 2025 and the National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Bill 2025.

Earlier, reports said that President Zardari had delayed signing the controversial PECA amendment bill until consultations were held with journalists.

The Parliamentary Reporters Association had reached out to President Zardari through JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to express their concerns over the PECA amendment bill.

Maulana Fazl had conveyed the parliamentary reporters’ reservations to the president.

Sources said that the president had accepted the Parliamentary Reporters Association’s request to delay the immediate approval of the PECA amendment bill.

After its passage in the National Assembly, the Senate also approved the PECA Amendment Bill earlier.

Opposition leaders and journalists strongly protested the move, staging a walkout from the Senate session.

Earlier, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) announced a nationwide protest and an indefinite sit-in outside Parliament against the amendment to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Speaking at a press conference along with the leadership of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) at the National Press Club, PFUJ President Afzal Butt announced the indefinite sit-in outside Parliament against the controversial law passed on Monday by the Senate Standing Committee on Interior under the chair of Faisal Saleem Rehman.