The International Press Institute (IPI) and eight other press freedom and human rights organisations wrote to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on September 11, 2026, urging his government to halt a rapid deterioration in press freedom.
Journalists have disappeared, faced detention and criminal investigation, lost their jobs under pressure from government and law enforcement agencies, and been blocked from reporting in parts of the country. The signatories single out the growing use of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) and investigations by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) against journalists covering matters of public interest.
Two journalists remain missing. Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif, who publish through Tahir’s social media channels, were seized and taken to an undisclosed location on August 1. Islamabad police have not acknowledged the detention and their whereabouts are still unknown.
Maintaining public order and national security must not become open-ended grounds for suppressing public-interest reporting, the letter says. It asks the government to account for Tahir and Saif and release them, investigate the June 7 assault on Daily Khabarain reporter Mian Zahid Owaisi, withdraw the Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, stop using PECA and the NCCIA to criminalise journalism, end information blackouts, and stop interfering in the operations of independent broadcasters.