In a bid to pave way for parliamentarians, especially the sitting ministers to lure voters through participating in election rallies, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday sent a bill relating to the Election Commission’s code of conduct to the cabinet.

In order to get rid of the malicious campaign on social media, the other bill pertaining to defamation suits was also referred to the cabinet for approval. With the passage of the bill, courts will be bound to dispose of the defamation suits within six months.

In a tweet, Minister for Information, Fawad Chaudhry confirmed that the two important bills relating to the ECP’s of conduct and social media have been sent to the federal cabinet for approval. He said that the first proposal seeks permission to allow parliamentarians to run election campaigns, adding the second law, if enforced, will make social media defamation a punishable crime.

“Insulting the dignity of another person on social media will be made a punishable offence and the courts will be bound to decide the cases within a period of six months,” the info minister tweeted.

The sources privy to the development said that the federal cabinet has amended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s code of conduct, paving the way for ministers and the parliamentarians to run election campaigns of their favourite candidates in the country.

They said that the government took the decision to amend the ECP’s code of conduct law after its ministers were served notices for their address rallies in the recently-held first phase of local government elections in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

On February 7, the ECP had disqualified Umar Amin Gandapur, the brother of Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, from contesting local body elections for violating the code of conduct announced by the ECP for the local government elections in the province.

However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended the ECP’s order to disqualify Umar Amin Gandapur from contesting the polls, who then won the polls for the Tehsil mayor in his constituency. The ECP had also directed federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur not to attend any political gathering or corner meeting till the culmination of the polls.

Besides, the ECP had also imposed a fine of Rs40,000 on an MNA belonging to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) for violating the code of conduct for the elections as he addressed a press conference in favour of his party’s candidate for Dera Ismail Khan city council.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the federal cabinet has also approved amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act, 2016 to criminalize criticism on institutions. They said that the amendment would allow action against those who conduct hate campaigns against the judiciary, army, and other institutions. According to sources, the proposed amendment seeks to punish those who criticise the institutions for three to five years.

An ordinance amending the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act would be issued soon, they said, adding the amendment would allow action against those who conduct hate campaigns against the judiciary, army, and other institutions.

The story was originally published in Business Recorder on January 20, 2022.