Islamabad, July 22 (IANS) Pakistan reported 22 cases of threats against journalists between April and June 2026, with Punjab province reporting the highest number of cases, local media reported on Wednesday.
Punjab documented 15 cases while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported three cases involving threats to journalists in the second quarter of the year, according to a review released by the Freedom Network on Tuesday as part of its quarterly assessment of threats to media and journalists in Pakistan, Pakistan-based daily Dawn reported.
Sindh and Balochistan reported one case each in the second quarter while Islamabad Capital Territory and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan saw one case each from April-June. The review did not include any verified incidents from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The cases mentioned in the review released by the Freedom Network documented several violations against journalists, including actual legal action (six), threat of legal action (four), arrest (three), threat of harm (three), threat to murder (two), assault which led to injury (two), assault without injury (two) and attempt to murder and kidnapping (one case in each category).
Pakistan reported 18 incidents of threat against journalists in the first quarter of 2026 while the cases rose to 22 in the second quarter, showcasing a rise of 22 per cent in documented violations.
The most significant trend observed during the second quarter was the persistent use of legal ways and state institutions to probe, prosecute and intimidate journalists. The most vulnerable were the individuals reporting digital platforms or covering governance, corruption, and matters of public interest, Dawn reported.
According to the review, state actors were the main threat in 15 out of 22 documented cases, showcasing the role of legal and administrative measures in limiting freedom of the media.
Earlier in May, journalists in Pakistan have urged the Parliament to review all media laws and termed the recent amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 “draconian black law, specifically engineered to facilitate the arm-twisting of journalists and the suppression of Pakistan’s media landscape”.
A declaration issued at the conclusion of the National Journalists Convention on “Media Laws, Regulations, and Ethics”, organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ), read: “We demand that the Parliament review all media laws that are contrary to Article 19 of the Constitution,” Dawn reported.
Through the declaration, known as the “Islamabad Declaration”, the journalists slammed the “violation of the government’s solemn promise that these laws would never be weaponised against the press”.
During the event, the journalists voiced concern over continued retrenchments and the deliberate job insecurity created by media owners, especially in the electronic media, where layoffs were made without any justification, resulting in hundreds of media personnel becoming jobless amid record-high inflation. The journalists condemned the denial of basic employment rights to media personnel, including health insurance, gratuity, and EOBI registration and benefits.
–IANS
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