Between free expression and reputation: Colonial legacies and the contemporary abuse of defamation law in Pakistan’s digital age

Abstract

There is a dilemma ongoing in Pakistan, as on one hand, it is the right to free speech, and on the other hand, it is the right to safeguarding good name. It explores the development of Pakistan's laws on the harming of reputations from the time of the British. It then explains how these old rules transformed into today's complex internet laws. The study and reveals disturbing truths. These laws are not only being used to settle personal differences, but to quell dissent, instill fear in journalists to censor themselves, and manipulate the judicial system to the benefit of the one who files the lawsuit.