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Rethinking the Debate Around Censorship in Pakistan

“Freedom of expression is a Western construct that has no place in our culture.” Some version of this excuse is often employed by the government to justify censorship in Pakistan. What Pakistan’s free speech debate needs is a broader, more dynamic jumping-off point, with new economic, educational, and sociocultural perspectives. The Alliance for Access is a coalition of civil society organizations, media, and businesses working to foster those perspectives.

The Alliance for Access draws links between different aspects of censorship affecting the daily lives of Pakistani citizens, and brings them into focus as a single problem in need of a holistic solution. The Alliance uses media as a tool to tackle the issues of censorship, surveillance, and internet communication tools.

For instance, it produced a TV talk show that brought together various actors from IT, academia, media, music, health, law, and politics to talk about the impact censorship and surveillance have on their work and daily lives. The Alliance also produced a documentary, Pakistan’s Internet BANwagon, that highlights different aspects of censorship in Pakistan through the eyes of citizens and experts.

Take, for example, the recent draft of the Cybercrime Law, first introduced under the dictatorship of General Pervez Musharraf in 2008. The Cybercrime Law allows the government to ban or block not only websites, but any information conduit—phones, televisions—in the name of preventing electronic crime. Bolo Bhi, a digital advocacy organization, along with members of the Alliance, shared their concerns about the bill and began working on a legal analysis to educate the public.

The National Action Plan, launched in January 2015 by the government of Pakistan to crack down on terrorism, implements even stricter measures. Not only does the plan provide authorities extensive powers to block and take down content from the internet, it also criminalizes whistleblowing, political memes, and blogs critical of the state or the state’s friends.

The Bolo Bhi team worked with the Alliance to provide members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information, Technology, and Telecommunication with a legal analysis and a brief around the most concerning parts of the legislation. We conducted press conferences and meetings with policymakers in opposition in the Senate. And we joined the Joint Action Committee—a group consisting of representatives of internet service providers, IT companies, and entrepreneurs—which argued that checks and balances on investigation agencies and officers have been removed under the bill, which also fails to define the mechanisms of enforcement.

As a result of these collaborative efforts the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information, Technology, and Telecommunication decided not to put the bill forward for final approval. Instead, the bill now will undergo multiple discussions with members of the Joint Action Committee and will only be tabled when it includes the necessary safeguards and protections. 

From producing a TV show to meeting parliamentarians to working with journalists, the Alliance for Access has provided strong resistance against the extensive and overarching curbs on free speech in Pakistan. The Alliance is making every possible effort to prevent citizens of Pakistan from being deprived of their fundamental human rights guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution of Pakistan, and international conventions.

Until freedom of expression can be reclaimed as a fundamental element of our society, every single voice matters, and staying silent is not an option.

Bolo Bhi is a grantee of the Foundation Open Society Institute–Pakistan.

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