Govt to tighten the noose on social media

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (SABAH): Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said on Saturday that federal government of Pakistan has moved to tighten the noose on social media as it received two key proposed legislation for approval.

In a brief statement on Twitter, the minister said under the proposed laws ridiculing someone on social media will be treated as a punishable offence.

“Two key laws have been sent to the federal cabinet for approval. The first is to allow parliamentarians to participate in election campaigns, while the other is to make it a punishable offence to insult people on social media,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site.

The development comes days after Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed dismay over a malicious social media campaign targeting the premier and First Lady Bushra Bibi and termed it “pathetic and intolerable”.

“Unchecked media freedom is devastating and such smear campaigns targeting personal lives should be discouraged,” PM Imran was quoted as saying during the meeting.

The prime minister was referring to the recent report published in an English weekly which indirectly implied that Premier Imran and his wife had developed differences and the first lady had been living with her friend in Lahore.