IT is a trend that one associates with authoritarian regimes, which crush protest and cannot tolerate even peaceful dissent. Sadly, what happened at the National Press Club in Islamabad yesterday is just another example of the speed at which the government is divesting itself of whatever democratic standards it claims to uphold.

It hardly matters that the minister of state for interior rushed to the premises to apologise ‘unconditionally’ or that the interior minister ordered an ‘inquiry’ into the police intrusion and subsequent violence against journalists at the club. It does not matter that the authorities tried to explain that the police action was initially targeted at a protest called by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee and that the situation had spiralled out of control.

What is of concern is that the brazen-faced barbarity at work — captured by phones and cameras, and circulated on social media for all to see — is not about to disappear in an environment where there is an active campaign to crack down on free expression.

The images and reports were traumatising: journalists were beaten, dragged and pushed around, their shirts torn, their equipment smashed. No damage control by the government is going to wipe out that memory.

Expectedly, condemnation has poured in from all sides. “We demand an immediate inquiry and those responsible brought to book,” said the HRCP. The president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has said it was “one of the darkest days” in the country’s history. Significantly, the PFUJ, Aemend and CPNE have together asserted that over the past few days, government-sponsored advertisements have appeared in the media labelling reporters, freelancers and others as anti-state.

Media watchdog Freedom Network has indicated the potential fallout of such dangerous advertisements: “Instead of ensuring their safety and a supportive work environment, this campaign further endangers media practitioners who already face threats, harassment, and physical violence.” It is chilling to imagine the greater horrors that lie beyond.

There is no doubt that years of state overreach have contributed to this fast-deteriorating situation. Politicians in opposition have talked loudly of the importance of press freedom; once in power, they have kept up the rhetoric but instituted draconian laws like Peca to silence all dissenters.

Media personnel have been picked up, disappeared and killed. Some have turned up later, shaken and unable to proceed. But accountability has eluded the mostly nameless perpetrators. In such conditions, one would have expected a united and robust media pushback — not unknown in the annals of Pakistani journalism.

Instead, there is a divided community today, unable to counter the silence thrust upon it. The need for independent journalism, fiercely defended by its practitioners, has never been greater. It is one of the last hopes for restoring democracy.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2025