Pakistan imposes new restrictions on foreign media reporting outside major cities

Pakistan has introduced new rules requiring foreign media workers, including Pakistani nationals working for them, to seek permission before reporting from most of the country. The guidelines apply to anyone covering stories outside Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, and have drawn criticism from journalist groups and media figures. The move comes amid tensions in Kashmir and renewed scrutiny of how unrest is reported.

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The rules are called the Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026. According to the government, they are intended to provide an administrative mechanism to verify media, facilitate access and coordinate reporting requirements. Officials have not said how long permission may take, and the process is linked to a No Objection Certificate, or NOC.

Foreign journalists already need NOCs, but the new rules extend the requirement more broadly to contributors and freelancers living outside the three designated cities. Critics say the changes could further limit independent reporting in a country that already ranks 153 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index. Political commentator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said the guidelines were tantamount to choking international media in an increasingly shrinking space.

He also warned that tighter controls could create more room for disinformation and the spread of fake news. Zaffar Abbas, editor of Dawn newspaper, called the restrictions ridiculous and totally unacceptable. The policy has particular significance because foreign media often rely on Pakistani nationals to verify information from areas beyond the main urban centres.

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That includes places such as Peshawar and Quetta, where local contributors can sometimes travel more easily or are based permanently. Under the new rules, those contributors would also need permission to cover stories outside the three cities. That could make it harder to report quickly from areas where access is already limited.

The government has been critical of coverage of deadly protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and the new rules appear to affect travel there as well. The reporting restrictions come at a time when demonstrations and police crackdowns in Kashmir have heightened political sensitivity around coverage. Media access in Pakistan has long been a contested issue, with local outlets often facing pressure and international outlets sometimes depending on local fixers and freelancers to gather information.

What remains unclear is how quickly permissions will be granted and how strictly the rules will be enforced in practice. It is also not clear whether the guidelines will affect breaking news coverage beyond the major cities in the same way as they affect planned reporting. Journalists and media organisations are likely to watch whether the new system becomes a broader barrier to reporting or is applied more narrowly than critics fear.

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