Pakistan

25 national, regional and international civil society organisations (CSOs) express their deep concern over the suspension and expulsion of 18 international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) in Pakistan. These organizations serve millions of people in Pakistan and contribute to the country’s economic and social development. We are also concerned that these actions indicate further restric...

Pakistan is a conservative Muslim majority nation with a population of approximately 200 million, out of which almost 49% are those who identify themselves as women, most of whom have lived their entire life behind barriers fabricated by their families in attempts of protecting their honour and reputation. Concepts such as protection and honour impede women’s mobility in society - they not on...

The threats to media have taken many shapes and forms throughout the history of Pakistan, and yet, the 2018 elections have brought along a fresh wave of challenges. From attacks on journalists to attacks on business freedoms of media houses resulting in financial and commercial repercussions, from organised hate speech against journalists to the use of cybercrime and other laws to initiate...

Women, no matter which region, field or context they are in, are no strangers to self-censorship. The social constructs of "good women" globally encourage submissive, compromising behaviour from women, and self-censorship, especially in matters of importance, is generally encouraged. Pakistani women are no different. Censoring themselves, especially if their opinions are dissenting from th...

  Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD), our member in Pakistan, has published a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan to curb the spread of election-related online misinformation and ensure implementation of  the Code of Conduct (CoC) for political parties in online spaces. We are republishing their letter here, in the context of political and religious violence i...

In October 2017, Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) and its team of reporters started a journalistic endeavour to test the effectiveness of the right to information (RTI) laws in the federal capital Islamabad, and the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Between October 2017 and March 2018, the team filed a total of 195 records requests to different public bodies across Pakistan ...

In the last five years the legislative landscape governing the practice of the right to information (RTI) in Pakistan has improved tremendously. RTI was codified as a constitutional right of the citizens of Pakistan with the 18th amendment in April 2010. The right was granted through the inclusion of Article 19(A) which states: “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information...

This statement was previously published by our member in Pakistan Media Matters for Democracy. Journalist and columnist Gul Bukhari was abducted by unknown persons on Tuesday 5th June 2018. After a few hours her family, who had earlier filed a missing person report with the police, confirmed through social media that she was back and ‘fine’. On the same night, another journal...