Pakistan imposes strict restrictions on media (ANI photo)
Two independent Pakistani journalists were detained on August 1 and taken to an undisclosed location, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“The requirement that journalists obtain state approval to report from large parts of the country sends a chilling message: that critical reporting is unwelcome,” Pakistan’s leading human rights organisation said in a statement. Journalists covering developments in PoK have come under particular pressure.
At least 30 people, including protesters, security personnel and bystanders, were killed in clashes during June and July, according to local officials and independent estimates cited by the NYT. The measures, introduced by the Shehbaz Sharif government during the so-called assembly elections in the illegally-occupied Valley, have also been criticised by press freedom organisations.
Pakistan has imposed strict rules requiring journalists working for foreign media outlets to seek government permission before travelling outside Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, according to The New York Times. “Heavy local journalists say will close off one of the last remaining ways to get independent journalism about the world’s fifth-most-populous country,” the report said. “If the government is really interested in showing that it believes in democracy and press freedom, then it should immediately lift this ban,” the organisation said. Pakistan’s ministry of information, however, said foreign media organisations would continue to operate normally and that the government was working on a new system for issuing travel permits.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists also urged the Sharif-led government to withdraw the restrictions.