PAKISTAN’S journalists have seldom lacked organisations speaking in defence of press freedom. What has been missing is a sustained, united response when reporters are threatened, silenced or prosecuted. The alliance proposed at an Islamabad roundtable offers a chance to address that weakness. Its six-member committee plans to document restrictions on expression and draw up a charter of demands after consulting stakeholders. Both tasks are necessary, but the committee must go beyond issuing statements whenever another journalist is targeted. Press unions have too often been divided by politics, personalities and competing interests. The test of solidarity comes when a reporter facing intimidation holds views that others in the profession dislike. If the alliance can defend that journalist as firmly as it defends its own supporters, it will have established a principle that powerful actors cannot easily exploit. A free press depends on that independence, not merely on the number of organisations pledged to protect it.
The proposal for a white paper examining political parties’ role in restricting expression deserves attention. Parties routinely demand media freedom when in opposition, then find reasons to curb it when in government. Their records should be set out plainly: which laws did they support, which abuses did they condemn, and what changed once they acquired power? Such scrutiny would give the proposed charter substance. The committee should also examine pressures that shrink newsrooms’ independence. Insecure employment, unpaid salaries and media owners’ willingness to suppress uncomfortable reporting can achieve what an official ban might otherwise accomplish. Journalists cannot resist intimidation without backing from their employers and unions. Nor can media freedom be secured by journalists alone; citizens lose when information is withheld and those exercising authority escape scrutiny. The new alliance should make its findings public, set achievable demands and report regularly on progress.
Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2026
