Pakistani authorities have imposed new restrictions on international media reporting in the country, in a move that has drawn sharp criticism from journalist organisations.
Under the new rules, anyone working for foreign media, including Pakistani nationals, must now seek permission to report from anywhere except the cities of Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore. The restrictions leave on-the-ground reporting by foreign media across most of Pakistan, currently ranked 153 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, subject to the discretion and timing of the authorities.
“These guidelines are tantamount to choking international media in an increasingly shrinking space,” said political commentator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar. He noted that while limitations on media are not new, local outlets have historically faced more pressure than international ones. “The public looks at the international media for independent reporting,” Khokhar said. “Placing restrictions simply creates more room for disinformation and the spread of fake news.”
The government’s position is that the guidelines, issued Sunday, are not intended to restrict media but rather to “provide an administrative mechanism” to verify media outlets, facilitate access, and coordinate reporting requirements. The new rules, titled the Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, do not specify how long the permission process, resulting in a No Objection Certificate (NOC), might take.
Foreign journalists already require NOCs under existing rules and can wait months for approval or never receive a response at all, significantly limiting their ability to report breaking news from the ground in a country of 240 million people. As a result, international outlets often rely on Pakistani nationals who can travel more easily to, or are permanently based in, cities like Peshawar or Quetta to verify information on their behalf. Under the new guidelines, any contributor, including freelancers, based outside the three specified cities would now require an NOC to cover a story.
Zaffar Abbas, editor of the Dawn newspaper, called the restrictions “ridiculous” and “totally unacceptable”. “I have worked as a journalist in this country for over 40 years and have reported during the times of two military rulers and a number of autocratic civilian rules but have never seen the imposition of such restrictions,” he said. “To ask journalists to get an NOC for travelling outside the three major cities not just undermines freedom of movement but also freedom of the press.”
The government maintains this is not a blanket restriction on individuals’ movement. The guidelines also state that journalists can lose their accreditation for “acts against ideology, sovereignty, security or public order of Pakistan,” a clause Khokhar described as vague, raising questions over how it might ultimately be interpreted and applied.
