KARACHI: Global press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday called on Pakistan’s new federal and provincial authorities to address “an alarming deterioration in press freedom” over recent months.

“What with murders of journalists, an enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, censorship and social media blocking, everything points to a very disturbing decline in press freedom in the first three months since the new federal and provincial governments took over at the start of March following elections in February,” the RSF statement said.

“The many press freedom violations reveal a climate of violence and a determination to censor that has little in common with the undertakings given by the political parties in their elections campaign manifestos, and the message of support for journalists by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” the statement quoted Célia Mercier, head of RSF’s South Asia desk, as saying.

The statement recalled examples of impunity, such as the murders of journalist Nasrullah Gadani in Sindh and YouTuber Kamran Dawar in North Waziristan, the alleged abduction of Kashmir poet and freelance journalist Ali Ahmed Farhad Shah, as well as the arbitrary detention of journalists and closure of the Quetta Press Club.

It also noted new “censorship measures” such as the creation of a National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to monitor online content, the promulgation of the controversial Punjab Defamation Act, a Pemra ban on court reporting and the continued blocking of social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

The strategy of suppressing critical voices is becoming ever more visible, Ms Mercier said, noting that Pakistan remained one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media, and the level of impunity for murders of journalists was appalling.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2024