AFGHANISTAN’S journalists have access to the news but not the freedom to report it. Fear grips them and others who want to exercise their right to free expression; they risk detention, abduction, torture and even murder in their country if they speak out or report truthfully. As the West, which is largely responsible for the crisis in Afghanistan, denies space to Afghan media persons, many remain desperate for a way out of an oppressive homeland to safer countries. This situation is reason enough for Islamabad to show compassion and halt the deportation of Afghan media workers in Pakistan, who are at risk of persecution if they return to their native land. In this context, the Committee to Protect Journalists, along with other rights groups, has called upon Pakistan to suspend its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan launched last October, and has asked countries “to ensure safe and legal passage for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, including writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others at risk of persecution…”. Under the plan, over a million Afghans have been sent back.

Media curbs in Afghanistan have led to a sharp decline in press freedom: according to Reporters Without Borders, Afghanistan ranks 178 out of 180 on the World Press Index. In 2021, before the Afghan Taliban retook Kabul, it was ranked 122. Reportedly, individuals, whose views and reportage clash with Taliban ideology, are being targeted. Terror is also used to control large sections of the youth that reject an extremist power structure. Pakistan must provide a safe sanctuary to proponents of free speech, culture and human rights so that truth and the people are not left at the mercy of a repressive regime. Present-day Afghanistan holds sobering lessons. Media freedom preserves a pluralistic, united and free society. A country that silences journalists and others is doomed to live in darkness, while an unfettered press guarantees peace and justice for all.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2025