Bolo Bhi wins Index on Censorship

Bolo Bhi, a digital campaigning group run by Farieha Aziz and Sana Saleem, recently won The Index on Censorship 2016 Freedom of Expression Award. The awards are presented in four categories; Arts, Campaigning, Digital Activism, and Journalism. Bolo Bhi won in the Campaigning category, contending with Bahrain, China, Eritrea, and Zimbabwe. The award recognises Bolo Bhi’s efforts in drawing national attention to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes bill.

In early 2015 the Joint Action Committee (a coalition of digital and human rights groups, industry and journalist associations brought together by Bolo Bhi under the JAC umbrella) was asked by the government to propose amendments to the Bill, very few of which were incorporated in the draft submitted and passed by the National Assembly. Bolo Bhi acquired a copy of the submitted draft and released it to the public along with an analysis comparing the government’s version of the bill with the industry version that had been approved by the Cabinet Division. Bolo Bhi’s position is that the Bill in its present form is far from acceptable and they intend to argue for a complete redraft when it goes to the Senate for passing.

Read: Timeline of the PEC bill.

Read: In Media – Prevention of Electronics Crimes bill.

Bolo Bhi was created in 2012 in response to the 2010 government ban on Facebook. Aziz, then a journalist, covered the story for Newsline and became friends with activist-blogger Saleem who was participating in the protests. In 2012 Aziz and Saleem formed Bolo Bhi to campaign against the government’s intent to call for tenders with the objective of establishing a national-level firewall. The project was shelved when Bolo Bhi was successful in persuading companies not to bid.