Now Reading: Pakistan Extends Foreign Media Travel Curbs to Local Staff
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Pakistan Extends Foreign Media Travel Curbs to Local Staff
Pakistan has extended movement and registration restrictions to Pakistani journalists, fixers and other local staff working for foreign media outlets, Hindustan Times reports. They will need government permission to travel and report…
The Story in Brief
Pakistan has extended movement and registration restrictions to Pakistani journalists, fixers and other local staff working for foreign media outlets, Hindustan Times reports. They will need government permission to travel and report outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Previously, such controls routinely applied mainly to foreign journalists.
Officials have not explained the reason for the new rules, which come during protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and widening insurgencies in the western provinces. The guidelines cover all foreign media outlets in Pakistan. A human rights group called the measures an alarming threat to independent reporting and warned they could encourage self-censorship.
The Indian Opinion
Calling every new security rule either necessary protection or proof of authoritarianism is too easy. The real concern is that Pakistan has widened controls from foreign nationals to its own citizens working with overseas news organisations, without stating a clear reason. That gives officials broad discretion over reporting beyond three cities. The test is whether permissions are published, time-bound and granted consistently, or quietly used to block coverage of protests and insurgencies.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
