Pakistan broadens foreign media curbs to local staff, drawing backlash

Pakistan has imposed new restrictions on foreign media outlets, requiring Pakistani nationals working for them to obtain government permission to travel and report outside major cities.

Pakistan has imposed further restrictions on foreign media outlets operating in the country, for the first time seeking to routinely control the movement of Pakistani nationals working for them. Until the new government restrictions were first circulated widely on Sunday, ‌only foreign citizens working as journalists were routinely subject to controls on movement outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Now, Pakistani journalists, fixers and others working for foreign media will need government permission to travel and report outside those three major cities and must register with the government. Pakistani officials have not said what prompted the new restrictions, which come amid protests in ‌Pakistan-administered Kashmir and widening insurgencies in the country's western provinces. The guidelines affect all foreign media outlets operating in the country.

A human rights group expressed concern that ‌the curbs threaten independent reporting and encourage self-censorship. The controls mark "an alarming step" in Pakistan's "narrowing space for press freedom," said Patricia Gossman of Human Rights Watch, calling for them to be "immediately reversed." Pakistan's Ministry of Information and its military did not respond to requests for comment. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new media restrictions were not intended to prevent criticism of the government or legitimate investigative journalism.

The ⁠Financial Times, ​one of several outlets operating in Pakistan contacted ⁠by Reuters, told Reuters it "supports the ability of journalists to report freely and independently." The BBC said in a statement it was “extremely concerned” about the new restrictions and called for them to be reversed. ⁠Other foreign outlets operating in Pakistan, including CNN, did not immediately respond. Reuters also maintains an office in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, and works with a network of staff journalists and contributors across the ​country.

A spokesperson for Reuters said, "Journalists should be free to report the news wherever they are." Earlier restrictions on foreign journalists also impacted movement inside Pakistan-administered Kashmir ⁠and the insurgency-stricken provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The new restrictions were posted by the government's Information Ministry on Sunday night on a WhatsApp channel used to communicate with foreign outlets.

The undated Information Ministry document surfaced a ⁠day before ​a WhatsApp notice by the government on Monday ordered foreign outlets without reporting permission to leave Pakistan-administered Kashmir immediately. Pakistan-administered Kashmir has held multi-round regional elections since late July, marred by deadly clashes between protesters boycotting the vote and security forces. Reuters couldn't determine how many foreign media journalists were in the region when ordered out on ⁠Monday, which media organizations they belonged to, or whether any have since been allowed back.

The movement of foreign journalists has long been restricted in Pakistan, which the government ⁠has often justified on safety grounds. The website of ⁠at least one news outlet that reported from Pakistan-administered Kashmir — Al Jazeera English — became inaccessible to many Pakistani users this week.

Al Jazeera and the Pakistani government did not respond to requests for comment. Pakistan ranks 153rd of 180 in the Reporters Without ‌Borders 2026 press freedom index, ‌in the "very serious" category.