Pakistani authorities on Sunday issued the Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, requiring anyone working for foreign media—including Pakistani nationals—to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) before reporting anywhere outside the cities of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. The guidelines, according to the government, are intended to “provide an administrative mechanism” to verify media, facilitate access and co-ordinate reporting requirements. Critics, however, say the move will effectively leave on-the-ground reporting by international outlets at the discretion of authorities across most of the country. Political commentator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar described the rules as “tantamount to choking international media in an increasingly shrinking space.”

The new restrictions do not specify how long obtaining an NOC may take. Foreign journalists already require such permits and can wait months for a response or never receive one, severely curtailing their ability to report breaking news in the country of 240 million people. International media outlets often rely on Pakistani nationals based in cities such as Peshawar or Quetta to verify information. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that two independent Pakistani journalists were detained on August 1 and taken to an undisclosed location, while several others have been summoned to court under a law criminalising “false and fake information” for their reporting from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The restrictions come amid a widening security crackdown in PoK, where protests demanding greater political autonomy have been ongoing since early June. According to local officials and independent estimates cited by The New York Times, at least 30 people were killed in clashes during June and July. A separate report from ABP News, citing protest leaders, put the death toll from state violence since June 7 at 131, with two more protesters killed on August 5 in Neelum Valley. Food supplies have been blocked since June 14, with dozens of supply trucks stranded at the PoK-Pakistan border, forcibly prevented from entering by Pakistan’s Punjab Police and Rangers. The region is in the middle of assembly elections scheduled to conclude on August 10.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned the crackdown, calling the elections “a complete farce” and accusing Pakistan of “lethal violence, targeted killings, and draconian bans” to silence peaceful protests. The Kashmiri diaspora in the UK staged a protest in Bradford on Wednesday, demanding protection of fundamental rights and calling for international monitoring. Human Rights Watch’s senior associate Asia director, Patricia Gossman, called the new media restrictions “an alarming step in the country’s narrowing space for press freedom and free expression.” Pakistan currently ranks 153rd out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index.