Key Points

It mentioned that the harassment of journalists in Pakistan has been a longstanding issue, but has intensified sharply over the past three years.

According to a report in Athens-based Geopolitico, since Asim Munir took over as the Pakistani Army Chief in late 2022, his hardline religious stance has emboldened the establishment to suppress dissent with unprecedented force.

"Press freedom in Pakistan is collapsing under a deliberate, state-backed campaign of intimidation. Independent journalists, social media activists, and local reporters are being harassed, arrested, disappeared, and even killed for challenging the powerful military establishment. The government has weaponised vague laws, empowered intelligence agencies, and ignored violence against the media. The result is a recurring human rights crisis that Pakistan’s rulers openly enable," the report detailed.

"Human rights groups have noted that Pakistan now uses sedition, cybercrime, and even terrorism charges to punish journalists for critical reporting. In 2025, several exiled Pakistani journalists were charged with ‘inciting mutiny’ and defaming the army in identical complaints filed in different cities. Their real ‘crime’ was exposing abuses by the Pakistani security agencies,"it added.

The report stressed that earlier in March, Pakistani intelligence agencies abducted two brothers of exiled investigative reporter Ahmad Noorani from their home in Islamabad shortly after Noorani published a report on Munir’s concentration of power.

During the same period, it said, journalist Asif Karim Khehtran disappeared in Balochistan after being threatened for reporting on human rights violations.

The US-based advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced these abductions as clear evidence of an escalating crackdown on media, and called for their immediate release. The report said these disappearances illustrate how Pakistan’s security agencies act with total impunity, using abductions as a tool to silence dissent.

“Rather than reversing course, the Pakistani state has doubled down by passing laws designed to suffocate free expression. In 2025, this legal stranglehold spread to the digital sphere. Amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act expanded punishments for spreading false information and authorised aggressive surveillance of online activity,” the report asserted.

It further highlighted that in June, an Islamabad court ordered to block over two dozen YouTube channels for allegedly posting “provocative” content against state institutions. Citing the 2025 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders, the report said, Pakistan ranked 158th out of 180 countries, placing it among the world’s most repressive states.

"Unless urgent international pressure is applied, Pakistan will continue its march toward becoming a media black hole. The world must condemn these abuses and hold Islamabad accountable for persecuting its journalists. Otherwise, the remaining free voices in Pakistan will be silenced, and the truth about the country’s worsening crisis will vanish with them,"the report noted.

- IANS