ISLAMABAD: Nine Pakistani and international press freedom and rights groups on Friday urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to address what they called the country’s “rapidly deteriorating press freedom climate” and to withdraw new rules requiring journalists who work for foreign outlets to seek government permission to report outside major cities.

The signatories, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said authorities were increasingly using the country’s cybercrime law against reporters, restricting coverage in Azad Kashmir and pressuring broadcasters.

Pakistan ranks 153rd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2026 World Press Freedom Index, in the lowest of the index's five categories. RSF says the press in Pakistan faces repeated waves of restrictions as authorities seek to control, and in some cases suppress, journalistic content.

“In recent months, journalists in Pakistan have disappeared, faced detention and criminal investigations, been blocked from reporting in certain parts of the country, and lost jobs due to government and law enforcement agencies’ pressure,” the groups wrote.

Among their demands was the withdrawal of the information ministry’s Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, which the letter described as “draconian.” Under the rules, international journalists and Pakistanis who contribute to foreign outlets, including web-based and social media platforms, must obtain a no-objection certificate for “official assignments, especially for work outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi,” the letter said.

The guidelines also allow authorities to suspend accreditation for acts deemed contrary to Pakistan’s “ideology, sovereignty, security, or public order,” and require foreign outlets and those who work with them, from sources to local fixers, to register with the ministry.

The groups also criticized the use of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and investigations by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency against journalists. They cited the June 5 arrest of Sohrab Barkat over a YouTube report on protests in Azad Kashmir, where internet services were suspended the same day and only partially restored weeks later. Barkat was released on bail on June 15.

The letter also cited Aaj TV’s dismissal of veteran journalist Munizae Jahangir on July 22, which it said followed pressure from authorities, the 15-day suspension of Geo News’ broadcast license on June 28, and the blocking of Al Jazeera’s website on August 2 after government criticism of its Kashmir coverage.

The groups asked the government to account for independent journalists Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif, who they said were seized and taken to an undisclosed location on August 1, and to bring to justice those behind a June 7 attack on Bahawalpur reporter Mian Zahid Owaisi.

“Maintaining public order and national security, and preventing the spread of alleged false information, must not become open-ended grounds for suppressing public-interest reporting,” the letter said.

The information ministry has not yet responded to the letter.

However, in a post on X on World Press Freedom Day in May, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the government remained committed to a “free, responsible and vibrant” media.