AKISTAN’S press freedom crisis is no longer something that can be dismissed as routine criticism. When nine rights and media organisations including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the International Federation for Human Rights warn Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of a ‘rapidly deteriorating’ environment, the alarm deserves a substantive response. Their concerns are specific: journalists have disappeared, faced detention and criminal investigations, been obstructed from reporting in parts of the country, and, allegedly under official pressure, lost jobs or been removed from air. The growing use of Peca and investigations by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency have reinforced fears that laws framed to counter cybercrime and false information are being used to police journalism. Restrictions in AJK, internet and telecommunications blackouts, curbs on foreign correspondents, action against broadcasters, the blocking of Al Jazeera’s website, and allegations of pressure surrounding the removal of journalists from television all point to shrinking space for independent reporting. The government must recognise that invoking national security, public order or misinformation cannot provide open-ended justification for curbing legitimate public-interest journalism.
What is required now is action. The government should ensure the safe return of journalists Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif, order transparent investigations into attacks such as that on reporter Mian Zahid Owaisi, and make the findings public.
Allegations that state agencies or officials have pressured media organisations should be independently examined, while regulatory action against broadcasters must follow transparent legal processes. Curbs on foreign media and access to information should be reviewed and withdrawn where they cannot be justified.
Most importantly, the government must revisit provisions of Peca that can be deployed against legitimate journalism and create safeguards against their misuse. The PM should convene media bodies, rights groups and legal experts to develop such protections and require accountability from agencies accused of intimidation. Press freedom is not a favour extended by the state.
It is a constitutional safeguard and a prerequisite for democratic accountability. Pakistan’s journalists need due process, access to information, protection from coercion and an unequivocal commitment that critical reporting will not be treated as a crime.