Any state would prioritize the use of law not only to legalize its illegal acts but also to control the minds of the people as to what and how they think. The media houses of such states give their utmost best in this regard to cover “selected issues” around the clock, while leaving 8 out of every 10 news in the vicinity for two possible reasons: because it earns them no governmental response, including advertisements. Two, because they do not attract the public at large. In Pakistan, and several other countries as well, the later has almost lost its essence while the first is making greater room in the media houses. Due to fear, definitely, and greed, media has lost its worth and role.
Prior the popularity of using the social media as a key tool in media coverage of the ground facts, Pakistan, and several other countries, have been largely successful in not only shaping people’s psyche but also controlling their acts against the ‘governments’. Therefore, governments (across the world) and their respective think-tank groups have been investing billions of money just to maintain their hegemony and make a state out of their own thoughts. Their ship of media-use was on the right sea unless the social media arrived and made things differently hard to control.
But they wasted no time in moving with their option of law to violate the new media setting before moving towards actual or direct violence to control it. Pakistan, earlier when they had no idea of use of law, used direct violence in Balochistan. When everything on surface was crushed back then after the National Party (NP) regime, the state machinery was convinced it (violence) worked out. In the present phase, we saw the masses emerging again standing against the violations of the fundamental rights of the Baloch. The state institutions tried to let them voice at first, but when they found even direct violence ineffective thereof, they brought on surface the colonial and media-controlling law – the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Acts (PECA) – in motion, along with the application of other laws to curb the voices like the Pakistan Maintenance of the Public Order (MPO) and others. Since the debate of the PECA law in 2016, it has been widely termed as a “Black Law” which has been a tool used against powerful and legal voices to escape criticism on government and law enforcement agencies.
Under PECA, the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) is empowered to make raids and arrest people stating that they violated the law. Recently, such an act was practiced in Quetta when the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a rights movement led by Dr. Mahrang Baloch and others, campaigned against the Baloch rights abuses. The key leadership was arrested under the constitution-opposed MPO, while several other members and civilians were arrested because they posted on social media in favor of the BYC – irrespective of the fact that neither BYC was officially banned, neither is it working outside the state’s constitution.
Apart from Balochistan, the mentioned PECA laws were implemented in other parts of the country as well. Recently, Junaid Sagar Qureshi was detained for posting on media. Same was the fate of journalists Farhan Mallick and Waheed Murad. A police officer in Karachi was also arrested this month for reportedly posting against the existing president, Asif Ali Zardari who was then set free by the higher court.
While they receive arrests in other parts of the country, they are warned, threatened and forcibly disappeared in Balochistan. Today, Baloch journalist from Gowadar, Javed MB Baloch, received threats on Whatsapp asking him to refrain from covering issues of Balochistan or else he should “prepare his coffin”. Javed is the founder of Balochi online website, Gwadar-E-Tawar who has been reporting on Baloch issues, abiding by the laws and ethics of journalism.
Balochistan has been den to grave human rights abuses. Media is a black-out. When political activists and local media persons (who are ignored access to state media) resort to social media to make voice for themselves, “black laws” like the PECA are used as a tool to harass them. But it is not going to work out here. State and its institutions need to stop their anti-constitutional practices and Baloch rights abuses to make things go the right way.
