The controversial Punjab Assembly Privileges Bill 2021 was passed on Thursday, giving unlimited powers to the speaker to direct the arrest of any journalist or lawmaker.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists along with other groups protested the passage of this bill at the Press Club on Monday. Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had vowed to amend the bill and remove objectionable clauses.

The bill was unanimously adopted by PTI, PML-Q PPP, and PML-N.

The PFUJ and Joint Action Committee have been protesting the bill since it was initiated on Friday. They object to section 21 of the bill, which according to their joint statement released on Monday, “empowers the speakers to add or delete any clause in the bill without even the approval of the Assembly.”

They termed the amendment an ‘eyewash’ since no real changes were made to section 21 and the amendment was just intended to silence the opposition of the journalist community. The bill also allows anyone breaching the ‘privileges’ of the Punjab Assembly within its precinct to be arrested without warrant.

The protests continued on Monday, calling for section 21 of the bill to be entirely abolished. While both the government and opposition agreed to the passing of the bill, PML-N representatives joined the journalist associations in the protests.

A Lahore based lawyer told Geo TV on Tuesday that delegating excessive powers to the Speaker and ultimately to the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest a member, which is a clause of the bill, is illegal.

The long list of ‘violations’ that could get anyone in trouble under this law include publishing defamatory statements against any member, publishing any proceedings before they are “reported to the Assembly or published in the official Gazette,” and creating “disturbance” in the chamber. The penalties include either a 3-month prison sentence, or one-month accompanied by a fine.

Calling these clauses “anti democratic,” the PFUJ stated that since the PTI government took office, there have been instances of censorship on the media.

A report released by international NGO RSF on Friday also noted increased “brazen censorship” on the media since the PTI government took over Pakistan, calling the Prime Minister a “predator of press freedom.”