— DawnNews

State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday said that action will be taken under cybercrime and defamation laws against those carrying out 'negative propaganda' against the prime minister and his family.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Aurangzeb said, "While the Panamagate case was in court, there was a lot being said about it on the media and social media, and no action of any kind was taken against it."

"However, in the past two weeks while the court has secured its verdict, a propaganda campaign has been carried out on social media, and people have been carrying out this campaign in an effort to influence the court," she alleged.

"Remarks like 'If the verdict is in favour of the prime minister, the judiciary will have lost its battle' have been used time and again," she claimed.

The government has, thereby, decided to act against anyone carrying out propaganda against the prime minister and his family over social media, she announced.

"This should not be considered political revenge," she stressed. "Whenever the government takes action against anyone, it is said that this is political victimisation carried out by PML-N."

"If action is taken against those carrying out this campaign... and politics is played regarding the government's action, the people of Pakistan will respond to it because they love Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif," she claimed.

"The honourable judges have already said that courts do not give verdicts based on popular opinion. Instead, they form their judgements according to law," the minister said, adding that the PML-N, "would agree with whatever verdict the Supreme Court gives."

"In the past two weeks, since the Panamagate verdict was secured, the PM has attended various events, but has refrained from using any of these platforms to influence courts regarding the case's verdict in any way," Aurangzeb claimed.

Pakistan's law governing cybercrime which was passed last year has been heavily criticised by the IT industry, civil society organisations and rights activists for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies.

Read more about it here: Cyber crime bill passed by NA: 13 reasons Pakistanis should be worried