Islamabad: (PPF) On February 17, Acting Chief Justice Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) took up a petition filed by the IHC Journalists Association (IHCJA) against the recently passed Prevention of Electronic Crimes  Amendment Act (PECA) 2025.

The petition was filed by newly elected IHCJA President Hussain Ahmed Chaudhry and General Secretary Raja Shehzad. The petition names the Federation of Pakistan via the IT and Telecommunication Secretary as the respondent and seeks to have the amendments declared “ultra vires to the Constitution” and struck down.

Advocate Mian Samiuddin represented the journalists’ body in court, accompanied by Chaudhry and other IHCJA members. Samiuddin argued that the amendments were a “severe attack” on press freedom and violated fundamental rights under the Constitution. He further contended that the Social Media Protection Tribunal and the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, established under the amendments, lack independence as they would be appointed by the government, which can also dissolve them.

Acting Chief Justice Dogar ordered that the IHCJA’s petition be clubbed with the please and transferred the case to Justice Inam Amin Minhas, who will also decide on the request to form a larger bench to hear the case. Justice Dogar inquired about the case schedule. Advocate Samiuddin informed the court that the proceedings before Justice Minhas had been adjourned for two weeks after being taken up on February 11.

Previously, a similar petition challenging the amendments was filed by a faction of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). Justice Inam Amin Minhas, presiding over that case on February 11, had sought  assistance of the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP).