Pakistan’s press may still sell newspapers on street corners, but beneath each bundle lies a grim truth: journalists in this country operate under siege. On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged “effective investigation, justice and prosecution” for attacks on reporters, giving a welcome, if long-overdue, assurance.
Pakistan now ranks 158th out of 180 in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, among the world’s most dangerous places for journalists. Crimes against media workers are so frequent that the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists calls the country a “slaughterhouse for journalists.” At least five reporters have been killed this year, and scores more live under constant threat. The constitutional promise of a “free, informed and responsible press” rings hollow against this backdrop.
Reports from press-freedom groups lay bare the scale of the collapse. Between January and October 2025, the Pakistan Press Foundation recorded 137 cases of harassment: 35 physical assaults and abductions, several enforced disappearances, and even raids on press clubs.
Authorities registered 30 FIRs, 22 under the cybercrime law (PECA), and at least eight arrests of journalists accused of defamation or targeted for old social-media posts. In Punjab, dozens of PECA-related cases have been logged this year alone.
For those who kill or silence journalists, impunity is near-total. The new journalist-protection commission has yet to deliver a single conviction, while security agencies often treat reporters as suspects rather than citizens. Furthermore, the amended cybercrime law now looms like an axe, enforcing self-censorship through fear. International watchdogs have urged Islamabad to act, warning that inaction could invite UN scrutiny, yet each appeal is followed by another funeral.
Economic suffocation has compounded the threat. As advertising revenues dry up, thousands of journalists have lost their jobs; many others go unpaid for months. For women in the field, the burden is far heavier: persistent online harassment, exclusion from press clubs, and targeted abuse have forced many to leave the profession entirely. The result is a media landscape poorer in both resources and voices.
A free press is not an ornament of democracy. It is its foundation. Pakistan’s leaders must now decide whether that foundation will stand or crumble. Reform the cybercrime law. Activate the journalist-protection act in full.
Hold open, public trials for every assault on a reporter. Empower the media-safety commission to act independently of the state, it must scrutinise. Otherwise, every November 2 will mark not progress but another year of funerals and fear. *