Islamabad: A federal union of Pakistani journalists has announced nationwide protests against censorship and mass layoffs, saying its members will go on hunger strike in all provincial capitals from next week against a year that has been the “worst” in history for the nation’s media. 
Journalists and rights groups say the government’s relations with the press and broadcasters have become increasingly strained since Prime Minister Imran Khan took office in 2018. The government denies it censors the media.
Journalists’ complaints range from direct edicts to editors and producers not to air or publish news critical of the government or the military, the suppression of opposition political voices, pulling TV stations from transmission or newspapers from circulation and targeting the advertising revenue of dissenting media. Newspapers and news channels across the country have announced mass layoffs in recent months as advertising funding and revenues have dried up. 
“This government has virtually strangled all journalists by tightening its hold on media houses,” Shahzada Zulfiqar, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), told Arab News. “2020 has been the worst year in Pakistan’s history for freedom of press.” 
He said at least four journalists had been killed this year while hundreds were laid off and more than two dozen were facing court cases for covering stories critical of the government.
Pakistan ranked 145th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) in April this year.
Senator Faisal Javed Khan, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting, and a senior member of PM Khan’s ruling party, denied the government was censoring the media, saying it “firmly” believed in press freedom and was in fact trying to help journalists and media organizations cover stories independently. 
“Our government firmly believes in freedom of press and freedom of expression, and we keep trying to ensure it at levels to the best of our capacity,” the senator said. “We believe genuine journalists can play an effective role in curbing misinformation and help segregate propaganda from the facts.” 
“Independent media is also vital for democracy and rule of law in the country,” Khan said. “Therefore, we also expect journalists to uphold the best journalistic practices while covering stories.”
But journalists and rights groups say the government’s idea of “best practices” increasingly means pushing favorable coverage and cracking down on dissent, including through new rules and the existing Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA).
Last year, Pakistan’s government approved new rules to regulate cyberspace, giving the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) “removal and blocking” powers of digital content that “harms, intimidates or excites disaffection” toward the government or poses a threat to the “integrity, security and defense of Pakistan.”
Many journalists have complained of receiving notices from the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for social media posts that “defamed” the army or the government. 
“The state had charged me for doing propaganda against state institutions on social media, which was totally frivolous,” Asad Ali Toor, a journalist who was charged under PECA in September, told Arab News. “The purpose was just to harass me and send a message to other journalists as well who are vocal and critical of the government’s and state institutions’ policies.”
In November, the Lahore High Court quashed the case against Toor after the FIA admitted the charges levelled against him were false.
“The government is now targeting Internet freedom under the garb of regulation,” Toor added.
“Let alone electronic and print media freedom, we are fast losing Internet freedom also due to recently promulgated regressive laws and rules,” Iqbal Khattak, a senior journalist and RSF representative in Pakistan, told Arab News while referring to the Citizens Protection [Against Online Harm] Rules 2020. 
Khattak said many journalists who had been laid off in recent months had launched Youtube channels and social media accounts to be able to continue to express themselves, but the government was using new social media rules to “chase” them on the Internet also. 
Toor said space was fast shrinking for journalists in Pakistan “but we’ll have to resist the government’s tactics to pressurise journalists.”