Islamabad [Pakistan], June 8 : Global press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged Pakistan's federal and provincial authorities to address "an alarming deterioration in press freedom" over recent months, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
In the statement, RSF said, "What with murders of journalists, an enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, censorship and social media blocking, everything points to a very disturbing decline in press freedom in the first three months since the new federal and provincial governments took over at the start of March following elections in February."
Celia Mercier, head of RSF's South Asia desk, said that the many press freedom violations showcase a climate of violence and determination to ban that has little in common with the undertakings mentioned by political parties in their election manifesto, according to Dawn report.
Mercier said, "The many press freedom violations reveal a climate of violence and a determination to censor that has little in common with the undertakings given by the political parties in their elections campaign manifestos, and the message of support for journalists by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif."
In the statement, the RSF recalled examples of impunity, like the murders of journalist Nasrullah Gadani in Sindh and YouTuber Kamran Dawar in North Waziristan, the alleged abduction of Kashmir poet Ali Ahmed Farhad Shah and arbitrary detention of journalists and closure of the Quetta Press Club, Dawn reported.
The RSF highlighted the new "censorship measures" like the creation of a National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to keep a watch on online content, the promulgation of the controversial Punjab Defamation Act, a Pemra ban on court reporting and the continued blocking of social media platform X, as per the Dawn report.
Mercier noted that the strategy of curbing critical voices is becoming ever more visible. She further said that Pakistan remained one of the world's most dangerous countries for media, and the level of impunity for murders of journalists was appalling.
Earlier in May, the Journalists Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) has urged the Pakistani authorities to "swiftly and impartially investigate the death threats and online harassment against senior journalists in the country, stressing on the anchorperson Hamid Mir, reported Geo News.
The Pakistani authorities have been requested to investigate the case of journalist Hamid Mir who has recently received death threats for his online comments supporting free speech. They further urged to ensure Mir's safety.
This comes after Mir, who hosts the Geo News show "Capital Talk", told CJP that he had received multiple death threats on social media and warnings that his life was in danger, Geo News reported.
Mir, 57, had also reported the threats to the police in Islamabad, however, no first information report (FIR) has been registered yet and no probe has been initiated, the committee said, according to Geo News.
The journalist has also told the CJP that he saw at least two people filming him when he was in his car near his home in Islamabad. He added that the people ran away when he approached them, reported Geo News.
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