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Pakistan drops 12 points on World Press Freedom Index 2022

Categories: Pakistan, South-Asia, Advocacy, Free Expression, Human Rights, Law, Media
Screenshot of the cover page of the Freedom Network Annual State of Press Freedom Report 2021-22. Fair use. [1]

Screenshot of the cover page of the Freedom Network Annual State of Press Freedom Report 2021-22. Fair use.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day [2], Pakistan-based independent media and civil liberties organization Freedom Network [3] released a report [4] that revealed that journalists in Pakistan have been targeted mostly by state actors in the past one year (May 2021 to April 2022) during the now ousted Imran Khan [5] government, resulting in violence, legal cases, abductions, detentions and threats. Pakistan also registered a steep decline of 12 points in the World Press Freedom Index 2022 [6].

According to the report,

86 instances of attacks on journalists across Pakistan. The highest number of attacks — 32 — were recorded [7] in the capital territory, Islamabad [8]; Sindh province [9] came in second with 23 attacks on journalists.

The report also mentions the highest number of attacks were carried out on the homes [19] of journalists, while two journalists were killed.

The report also listed [24] that state actors and functionaries targeted journalists in Pakistan the most — 35 cases. The most targeted medium [25] was television (39 cases), followed by print media (35 cases).

A steep decline in the World Press Freedom Index

According to the World Press Freedom Index 2o22 [6] report, Pakistan has dropped 12 points in the index, from a rank of 145 in 2021 to 157 in 2022.

Writer Madiha Afzal documents how Pakistan and a number of South Asian countries rank low in press freedom.

Many on social media highlighted this decline in press freedom in Pakistan.

Journalist Waleed Tariq highlighted the drop:

Motivational speaker Shafique Khan tweeted:

The new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif [32] also condemned Imran Khan's legacy on Twitter:

The reports are contrary to what former Prime Minister Imran Khan said in his speeches regarding the free press. In one of his statements [35] in September 2021 he said, “Media enjoyed ‘more freedom than ever’ under PTI's govt.” In another statement on March 1, 2022, he blamed a section of media that was critical of his policies for joining hands with the mafia [36], indirectly pointing towards the other political parties.

However, during the tenure of Imran Khan, female journalists were harassed, threatened and subjected to severe online abuse [38]. In 2020 some female journalists also met [39] the Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party and former Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Bilawal Bhutto [40] to record their complaint.

Archen Baloch, a journalist from Balochistan tweeted:

You can download the Pakistan Press Freedom report 2021-2022 by Freedom Network from here [1].