Threats, attacks against journalists jump over 60% in Pakistan

Islamabad: Freedom Network’s annual Pakistan Press Freedom Report stated that at least 140 cases of threats and attacks against journalists, media professionals and media organizations were reported in Pakistan between May 2022 and March 2023.

According to the report released in connection with the World Press Freedom Day—marked globally on May 3 every year— Pakistan’s media environment became riskier and more violent in recent months.

The data shows that press freedom violations jumped to 140 in 2022-23 from 86 in 2021-22, indicating an annual increase of around 63 percent.

“The escalation in violence against journalists is disturbing and demands urgent attention,” said Iqbal Khattak, the Executive Director of Freedom Network, the media rights organization that tracks press freedom violations around the year and publishes the annual report, which also documents the killings of at least five journalists in Pakistan in the period under review.

Khattak added that attacks on independent journalism block access to essential information, which is especially damaging during the ongoing political and economic crises when the public needs reliable news to understand the issues and respond to them.

“It is ironic that Pakistan in 2021 became the first country in Asia to legislate on safety of journalists but one and a half years later the federal and Sindh journalists’ safety laws have not helped a single journalist resulting in the increasing violence against them,” he stated.