ISLAMABAD: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that not enough was being done against “digital terrorism” under the law, allowing fake news and propaganda to spread in the country.
Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, the military’s spokesperson said that the first line of defence against “digital terrorism” was the country’s law.
“It is the country’s law that has to control and curb digital terrorism [but] unfortunately, you can see that lies, propaganda — particularly on social media — fake news and doctored images continue to spread while confusion is created in the public’s mind,” he said.
“But the law is not taking its course against [digital terrorism] the way it should.”On the other hand, he said, the Pakistan Army was taking the matter very seriously.
“Which is why, whoever — whether in Pakistan or abroad and irrespective of their position — is found spreading propaganda against the Pakistan Army, creating a distance between the army and the people, or is found to be involved in spreading fake news, the army will take necessary legal action against it, and there is a whole process for it,” he explained.
The term “digital terrorism” entered the country’s political vernacular quite recently when a top military moot used it on May 30.There are no laws in Pakistan for “digital terrorists” or “digital terrorism”. Section 8 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016 deals with cyberterrorism.
When asked about reports of ongoing talks with a certain political party and the army’s position on the May 9 riots, the DG ISPR replied that the army’s “very clear” stance was already stated during a press conference on May 7.
Last week, PTI founder Imran Khan — after experiencing months of strained relations with the army — in an apparent softening of stance categorically said that his party was ready for talks with the military establishment.
Meanwhile, the military spokesperson denounced the rights movement Baloch Yakjehti Committee and its “so-called leadership” as a “proxy of terrorist organisations and criminal mafias and nothing more than that”.
He alleged that the “proxy” was tasked to defame and spread propaganda against law enforcement agencies taking action against smugglers, criminals, and the “illegal spectrum”, as well as make development projects in the province controversial.
