Freedom of expression under censorship is a threat

to democracy
Abstract
The right to freedom of expression is universally accepted foundational human right in all
democracies of the world. It is a key to the protection of all human rights, lynchpin of democracy
and essential to human dignity. Internationally accepted norms and standards of human rights
are often violated by the governments by misusing or taking the cover of laws. Media has been
regarded as a free space where different opinions can be expressed without limit. So, the way in
which democracies negotiate seemingly contradictory positions regarding control of media and
freedom of expression is a field of research worthy of exploration.
Maintaining an orderly state is a common reason for censorship, while the underlying motive is
to prevent the public from knowing information that may threaten the authorities. Throughout the
history, censorship has been used to control public awareness, monitor public morality and to
silence opposition. The main argument of this study is that freedom of expression is a backbone
of democracy.

Keywords: democracy, freedom of expression, internet, censorship

Introduction
It is required to form a model of a democratic society that pays more attention to social values
and solidarity- to what people feel, think and talk about politics. Political scientists defined the
formal characteristics of democracy. Without share of people as described by Aristotle, without
the liberal state and freedom of speech as recommended by Mill and Locke there would be no
worth of democracy (Alexander, 1997). Freedom of expression is recognized worldwide as the
basis of human rights, protected by a multitude of international and regional treaties,
frameworks and charters. Simply, freedom of expression is a guarantee for citizens to effectively
participate in the functioning of democracy (Sun, 2014).
Democratic governments, today, face few challenges regarding freedom of expression. One of
the major challenges is how to balance between the assurance of freedom of expression amid
peace and security, ensuring law & order with the state that owns diversity in terms of faiths,
beliefs and views. Interestingly, even in the United States, the most liberal country of the world,
freedom of expression is conditionally restricted (Chaudary, 2014). In the modern era of
connectivity, "new media" defined as the digitization of information-has recognized to be a vital
tool in organizing groups and disseminating information in their search for the realization of the
promotion of democracy and human rights. The Internet as a source of new media is an
essential means for people to share opinions and information about matters that directly affect
them. It is sufficient to take into account the recent developments in the world to note that the
arrival of social media has fostered vigorous change and opened the avenues for new networks
of internal dialogue between the ruler and ruled and among masses (Virak, 2011).
This paper is based on the international norm that freedom of expression is a basic human right
for all the citizens irrespective of any kind of discrimination. In this connection, UDHR under
Article 19 says that "freedom of expression and to hold opinions without interference and to
receive, seek, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
boundaries". The Human Rights Council, in 2012, affirmed the applicability of Article 19 to the
Internet. As an international standard, the right to freedom of expression should be the norm.
The aim of this research paper is to expand the issue by applying the Grounded Theory method.
The researcher identified main themes from the archival study of newspapers and interviews
and analyzed the facts by following the steps of grounded theory ie. open coding, axial coding,
and theoretical
Democracy
Democracy is to be considered as essentially contested and debatable term (Sabharwal &
Berman, 2013). Political scholars and thinkers have differed about the basic characteristics of
democracy. I will here use a working definition of democracy that put forward by Anthony
Arblaster,
"All the definitions of democracy have one
common idea - all the power and authority is possessed by the people.
In other words democracy revolves around the concept of popular power", but it does not advice
any particular mechanisms. This definition associates with that given by David Beetham, who
says that democracy is concerned with the making of collective binding rules.
David argues that democracy is such a procedure by which those who are expected to respect
collective rules will participate equally in their formation. This view can be broadened to include
the argument that democracy is historically based on the idea of an enlightenedof the population
and has promoted its development (Mclaverty, 2013). It is argued that an indispensable feature
of
democracy is that people have right to access to information, right to opinion and right to
freedom of expression. "...free speech is the basic human right under national and international
laws and the source of generating public opinion..." (A. Khan, Interview, August 12, 2018).
The aim of this paper is not to place a rigorous definition of democracy.
Nearly all would agree with the definition put forward by Abraham Lincoln that "democracy is the
government of the people, by the people, for the people" (Lincoln, 1863: 210). According to the
Athenians, liberty and equality are two of the vital defining characteristics of democracy. In
democracy people had retained the right to conduct their personal affairs as per their own
desires and interests, and simultaneously an equal share in the political world, as long as they
didn't breach the law or infringe upon the others' liberty.
More importantly, one of the interesting features of democracy in which Athenian citizens were
as equal and free was their fundamental right to "isegoria" i.e. "Freedom of expression"
(Xenophon, 1986).
It is reasonable to say that in order to enable us to pursue this emancipatory promise of
democracy, freedom of expression is an unavoidable factor. No doubt, freedom of expression is
a very base to democracy, but this right is often violated in developing countries like Pakistan
where democracy has not yet been deep rooted

Freedom of expression
It is widely recognized that free expression is a foundational human right that has great
importance. It is a key to the protection of human rights, lynchpin of democracy, and base to
human dignity. It has also been widely recognized that right to freedom of expression is not
granted by the government in its true spirit and every democracy has established some system
of restrictions (Isakhan & Stockwell,
2011). If we look into history, the temple community in early Dynastic states such as Lagash'
exercised various political power and presented democratic character (Frankfort, 1978 [1948]:
221). Collective poltical action was generated by the temple against state-imposed oppressive
systems of power and corruption, which led for the 1st time use of the word "freedom". As a
result of such struggle, the Lagash king, Urukagina, around 2300 BC established liberty as a
fundamental tenant of society (Bailkey, 1967: 1231).
Ideals of equality and liberty were not confined to Lagash.
There are other many examples that the fundamental rights of thepeople and basic freedoms
were apprehended in high Honour and esteem across ancient Middle East. For example,
throughout the Assyrian, Israelite, and Babylonian assemblies every citizen had the right to
freedom of speech and opinion (Wolf, 1947). Another important example in the history can be
traced back during the foundation laid in Persian Empire of Achaemenids by Cyrus the Great'.
In those days an allegedly cruel, unholy, and incompetent king, Nabonidus, rule the Neo-
Babylonian Empire. In 529 BC, Cyrus conquered the city and determined to restore the
fundamental rights of the people and to encourage personal freedom and religious tolerance
(Cogan, 2003: II.124).
General Assembly resolution, and Article 19(2) of ICCPR, formally binding legal treaty ratified by
165 countries, both guaranteed the right to freedom of expression (Mendel, 2011). So, it is
unchallengeable that right to free expression is a most significance right. UN General Assembly
in its first
expression is a basic human right (Balkin, 2004). All above examples illustrate my point.
According to the report of freedom network, the free
expression has huge challenges in Pakistan. From May 1, 2017 to April 1, 2018 there are 157
cases of violations have been recorded in 2018 in Pakistan against media groups and
journalists. The journalists are harassed by government, political and religious parties and by
non-state actors in the form of censorship, life threat, killing, abduction, and physical assets
(Freedom Network, 2018). "...there is a noticeable decrease in overall extremism in Pakistan but
journalists and journalism are still more vulnerable and the environment for freedom of press is
deteriorated in Pakistan..." (I. Khattak, Interview with VOA, May 3, 2018). "...Pakistan is no
exception. Pakistan does not want to lag behind as far as seeking full control over the media by
means of PEMRA and cyber laws..." (I. Khattak, Interview, July 3, 2018).
Some professionals are of the view that due to coerciveapproach to destabilize the freedom of
expression, the media organizations are compelled to adopt measures of [Link]
Hassan, the chairman of HRCP revealed in his interview to
VOA that, '...Many TV channels and newspapers have adopted the policy of self-censorship. He
termed it as plague because it blocked the freedom of expression and also crated blackout
regarding the right to information. Hassan added that state and non-state actors are
forcingjournalist from the last seventy years..' (M. Hassan, Interview to VOA, May 3, 2018).
Senior media person, Amir Ilyas Rana told that,
'...Peaceful environment, without fear,
should be provided to
journalists. They should be saved from killing during reporting and
organization should observe the policy of self-
censorship...' (A. Ilyas Rana, Interview to VOA, May 3, 2018).
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the government of Pakistan
are under severe criticism that it has blocked the signal of Pakistan most famous Geo News
Channel. A famous political analyst, Rasul Bakhsh Rasees during his interview with VOA, '...The
blockage of Geo TV and to block the coverage of PTM has said a lot about themselves. There is
unannounced censorship in the country. Has it a solution? No one has the answer...' (R. Bakhsh
Rasees, Interview to VOA, May 03, 2018). It has been reported in The Dawn that, ".
...The intensified crackdown against social media has
created a state of great concern for law -abiding, all right-thinking and democratic citizens..'
(Daily Dawn, October 23, 2017).
Internet as source of new media
The global advancement of ICTs made the access to information and communication easier
than ever before. A large number of web communities have been formed both at local as well as
global level. It enabled people to communicate and share information and common interests. It
seems, on the surface, that we are evident of new-age phenomena, which could settle the age-
old problems of democratic deficit (Splichal, 2009). Researchers and political scientists are of
the view that this open communication on Internet is beneficial and more significant for the
development of democracies.
The new censorship challenges have created by Internet due to its trans-national nature
(Mendel et al., 2012).
Freedom of expression is the primary tenets of democratic nations. So, how democracies
negotiate apparently contradictory stances regarding freedom of expression and Internet
censorship is a research area that is worth investigating. WikiLeaks, officially launched in 2007,
main aim was to publish leaked information on wide range of subjects, mainly to denounce
unlawful acts of governments and corporations. In 2010, the site gained notoriety as it released
a video of United States air attack on civilians in Iraq. Soon after it, Julian Assange, the founder
of WikiLeaks on received of arrest warrant from Swedish government and was taken into
custody by the British authorities on the charges of sexually assaulting two women (McGreal,
2010; BBC, 2011).
Many scholars are of the view that internet facilitated the people participation in the progress of
democratic culture and truedemocratic system. They further asserted that internet to support for
the production of democratic culture, there should be no restriction on freedom of expression
(Balkin, 2004; Beyer, 2014). The essence of free expression is that the true information is
accessible without the fear of punishment and censorship. Farieha Aziz, Director Bolo Bhi said
that, '....Pakistan wants to follow the footprints of China to strict online censorship, as it is the
source where the users can exchange their views and ideas freely..' (Reuters, September 18,
2013 .
Censorship
Maintaining an orderly state is a common reason for
censorship, while the underlying motive is to prevent the public from knowing information that
may threaten the authorities. It is used officially to suppress and control expressions that may
endanger state order. Throughout the history, censorship has been used to control public
awareness,
morality and to silence opposition.
Governments are not willing, in the new world, to renounce the control and wants to maintain
the old world in which respect for law and borders, authority, life rooted in one place, and
stability (Delaney,
2010). In 399 BC, Socrates was the first convict of censorship.
Governments censor books, magazines, newspapers, movies, and news broadcast traditionally
before release to read out censorable content. The advocates of anti-censorship consider it
curtailment of freedom of expression, and of information.
The struggling
Democracies and dictators use censorship as an instrument to maintain law & order with the
motive to sustain public ignorance (Bennett & Naim, 2015). "... Censorship of the media is more
about silencing the masses over so-called sensitive issues..." (A. Khan, Interview, August 12,
2018).
The advent of internet has made it easy for everyone to
access information and express his/ her views freely even without governmental control.
However, soon governments have managed to control the information and attentively stay two
steps ahead from the public. The content or activities which are considered harmful for the
ruling class dealt with criminal charges not only in dictatorial regimes but also in well-established
democracies. The U.S. also failed to comply with the principles of freedom of expression on the
internet when its own interest is at risk (Sabbagh, 2011).
According to the 2018 ranking of Reporter San Frontier (RSF) regarding Internet Freedom,
Pakistan is at 139 rank out of 180, whereas the United States is placed at 45 whereas in 2013
the U.S. was 32 out of 180 (RSF, 2018). '... Censorship of media through media laws is against
the basic international norms of democratic regimes...' (S.
Baloch, Interview, May 22, 2018). As per report by Voice of America,in Pakistan as user of the
internet to upload sensitive subject online have been killed and according to the independent
study Pakistan placed on the top among Brazil, Mexico, and Syria. According to the annual
report of "Freedom on the Net" Pakistan has been declared "NOT FREE" for the last many
years (The Express Tribune, May 3, 2018). According to one of the reports of Daily Dawn,
'...Government agencies have the ability to restrict reporting, to encourage censorship on self-
basis with indirect and direct mechanisms and also to instigate violence against media
personnel..
(DailyDawn,September 12, 2018)....Censorship on the internet will curtail digital rights and
social liberties in developing countries like Pakistan. Many bloggers were picked up in the name
of national security..." (A. Tehseen, Interview, January 23, 2018).
In an interview with Shahzad Ahmad, the founder of Bytes forAll, said that secular, progressive
and liberal opinions are gradually being targeted in Pakistan, campaigning for media freedoms,
and everything can be banned without argument. Liberal voices are gradually shushed while
militants speak freely..." (Reuters,18September 2013). Pakistan, from a German company
specialized in surveillance technologies, acquired three types of FinFisher [Link] enters a
computer and lives in it, gathering records and real time transactions in the backdrop,
apparently for the administrators of the software, for example law enforcement agencies
(Shahid, November 15, 2014). As reported in Daily Dawn that, '... states introducing online
monitoring and censorship practices that are more sophisticated and more aggressive in
targeting internet users..' (Daily Dawn, December 5, 2014)

Conclusion
Freedom of expression, the essential element of democracy, has always been in restraining
since its evolution in one or other form.
The lynchpin of democracy is universally acknowledged in connection with the freedom of
human rights. The edifice of democracy has its glory due to the freedom of expression because
of all road democratic avenue spring from here. Whereas, media is one of the important tools of
freedom of expression in democratic societies. Media personnel, cable television operators, and
Journalists have been targeted for a decade because they raise voices for freedom of
expression and freedom of expression in Pakistan

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