Pakistan restricts international media reporting outside main cities

Pakistan's government has instructed international media to register journalists and seek permission for any reporting outside the country's three main cities, sparking concern from rights and media groups over a threat to press freedom.

The information ministry sent a statement on Monday to an international media message group on the requirement to seek permission for reporting outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Written guidelines published by the ministry stated all journalists working for international media, including freelance reporters, should register with the government's external media wing.

Organisations would then need to seek Non Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the government for reporting outside the three cities.

It was not clear how widely the guidelines would be enforced or if penalties would apply for non-compliance.

Local media and rights groups called for the requirements to be withdrawn. They said the rules would curb reporting and freedom of information in the country of 250 million — the world's fifth-most populous nation where many major security, environmental and human rights events unfold outside the three main urban centres.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan "is deeply concerned by the government's new Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines 2026, which, rather than facilitating journalism, will invariably institutionalise bureaucratic control over news gathering and risk deterring independent reporting on matters of public interest," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"This is the latest in a growing pattern of restrictions on media freedom in Pakistan," the organisation added, warning that "the space for journalism continues to shrink."

Pakistan is ranked 153 out of 180 nations for press freedom in a Reporters Without Borders index.

Foreign media workers already have to request NOCs for reporting outside the main cities, which could take weeks to obtain, limiting their ability to cover urgent news from the ground.

International media organisations often rely on Pakistani nationals who are based across the country and carry out much of their written and visual coverage of the South Asian nation.

Under the new guidelines, the local journalists would also require an NOC before covering a story.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday referred journalists to the information ministry in response to questions on the rules.

KASHMIR PROTESTS

 The instructions come in the wake of protests and a local election in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, during which rights groups decried press restrictions.

The information minister and the ministry's external media wing did not immediately respond to AFP's question on whether the situation in the Himalayan region had prompted the new guidelines.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international media advocacy group, posted on X on Monday that it was monitoring "deteriorating press freedom conditions in Azad Jammu and Kashmir amid ongoing protests" and called on authorities to restore access to information and allow independent reporting.

Protests by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) group demanding electoral reform, and ensuing deadly clashes with law enforcement have been regularly reported on by international media in recent months.

Pakistan's information ministry issued a statement on X on Monday criticising Al Jazeera for the broadcaster's reporting on the polls from the regional capital Muzaffarabad.

The ministry accused the broadcaster of "yellow journalism" and "selective reporting" that corresponds to "the agenda of external actors with vested interests who are attempting to delegitimise this electoral exercise."

Agence France-Presse