Structural Repression & Digital Authoritarianism: A Comprehensive Analysis of Pakistan’s Press Freedom Crisis

This comprehensive analysis examines the accelerating erosion of press freedom and freedom of expression in Pakistan, characterized by a confluence of legal coercion, physical violence, and digital authoritarianism. Utilizing recent case studies, quantitative data from monitoring reports, and a review of legislative developments, this paper argues that the state has systematically engineered a hostile environment for both traditional journalism and digital content creation. The findings indicate a strategic shift towards leveraging cybercrime legislation and regulatory bodies to institutionalize censorship and suppress dissent, resulting in a profound chilling effect and a crisis for public-interest journalism.

1. Introduction: The Deepening Crisis
Pakistan’s media landscape is undergoing an existential crisis. The paradigm of threat has expanded beyond traditional journalists to encompass digital media creators, bloggers, and citizens on social media. The alleged torture and coercion of prominent YouTuber Saadur Rehman (Ducky Bhai) by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in December 2025 is not an isolated incident but a symptomatic manifestation of a broader, state-orchestrated campaign to silence critical voices. This case epitomizes the vulnerability of digital creators within an increasingly repressive framework where legal, extra-legal, and violent tactics converge.

2. Case Study: The Ducky Bhai Incident as a Paradigm
On December 8, 2025, Dawn reported detailed allegations by Saadur Rehman. Arrested in August 2025 at Lahore Airport under charges related to promoting online gambling, Rehman was subjected to physical assault, verbal abuse, and coercive financial extraction—specifically, the forced transfer of cryptocurrency assets to officials’ personal accounts—while in NCCIA custody. Despite bail granted by the Lahore High Court, his continued detention highlighted procedural weaponization. This incident underscores critical developments:

• The Blurring Line: Digital creators are now primary targets, facing the same retaliatory mechanisms as journalists.

• Instrumentalization of Agencies: The NCCIA’s alleged actions suggest a move towards using cybercrime units as instruments of extra-judicial punishment and financial predation.

• The Chilling Effect: Such publicized cases serve a dual purpose: punishing the individual and broadcasting a threat to the broader digital community.

3. Quantitative Data: Documenting the Regression
Empirical data confirms a sharp regression in media safety and freedom.

• Freedom Network’s Annual Impunity Report 2025 (supported by IMS): Documented at least 142 cases of attacks and violations against journalists and media entities under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government—a ~60% year-on-year increase. Punjab and Islamabad were the most perilous regions.

• Killings and Violence: The Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom Report 2025 recorded five journalist killings (three in Sindh, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and at least 82 other individuals facing threats, from intimidation to physical assault. This continues a lethal trend; Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recorded seven journalist killings in 2024.

• The Arshad Sharif Precedent: The unresolved 2023 murder of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya, labeled a case of “mistaken identity” with stalled Supreme Court proceedings, remains a potent symbol of pervasive impunity.

4. Legal Architecture of Repression: The PECA 2025 Amendments
A critical inflection point identified by analysts was the January 2025 amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). The report Free Speech and Public Interest Journalism Under Siege frames these amendments as the cornerstone of the current crisis.

• Expanded Scope & Penalties: Amendments facilitate easier arrest, heavier fines, and longer imprisonment for a wide range of online expression, criminalizing dissent under vague pretexts of “defamation” or “threat to national security.”

• The Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority: The creation of this body grants the state sweeping powers to regulate platforms, mandate content removal, and enforce data localization, effectively establishing a centralized censorship apparatus.

• Weaponized Litigation: The Annual Impunity Report documented 36 formal legal cases against 30 journalists under PECA and the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), predominantly in Punjab. This reflects a strategic shift towards using the legal system to burden, intimidate, and imprison critics.

5. Systemic Consequences & Sectoral Degradation
The cumulative impact of these measures is systemic degradation of the media ecosystem.

• Erosion of Professional Integrity: Independent outlets are being economically suffocated, while media ownership is increasingly concentrated among business elites (e.g., property developers, industrialists) whose interests align with state narratives, leading to widespread self-censorship.

• Targeted Vulnerabilities: Women media practitioners face compounded risks, including gender-based harassment, doxxing, and professional exclusion. Political polarization is exploited to discredit and isolate independent voices.

• Generational Repression: A seminar in Islamabad (September 5) honoring veterans like Nisar Osmani and CR Shamsi highlighted the cyclical nature of this struggle, drawing direct parallels between current tactics and those of General Ziaul Haq’s martial law regime.

6. Expert Analysis & Advocacy Perspectives
The September 2025 report by the Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA), *Modernising Legal Frameworks Governing Freedom of Expression, Media and Digital Citizenry in Pakistan (2016-2024)*, provides scholarly corroboration. Panelists at its launch articulated the multidimensional threat:

• Sehrish Qureshi (Independent Urdu): Highlighted the frustration of journalists facing legally-sanctioned silencing through PECA.

• Sadaf Khan (Digital Rights Specialist): Warned of normalized mass surveillance extending to regular citizens.

• Ammara Durrani (Policy Specialist): Issued a stark warning that the crackdown on speech fundamentally endangers the right to life by creating a climate of impunity for violence.

7. Macro Implications: Democratic Erosion & Public Epistemology
The crisis transcends the media sector, posing fundamental threats to Pakistani democracy and public epistemology.

• Information Deficit: As co-author Iqbal Khattak warned, a shrinking media space denies citizens access to information necessary for informed civic participation.

• Disinformation Proliferation: Suppression of credible journalism creates a vacuum filled by state-sponsored and partisan disinformation, eroding public trust and social cohesion.

• Institutional Insecurity: The state’s myriad institutions, particularly the military establishment and its aligned government bodies, demonstrate a determinism to subjugate journalism to their perceived security and reputational interests.

Conclusion
Pakistan’s press freedom crisis is a multifaceted phenomenon driven by legislative engineering, institutional weaponization, and sustained violence. The Ducky Bhai case exemplifies the extension of this repression into the digital realm. Data reveals accelerating attacks, while legal analysis confirms the state’s strategy of institutionalizing censorship through laws like PECA. The result is a profoundly chilled media environment, a compromised public sphere, and a democracy under severe strain. Without urgent domestic advocacy and concerted international pressure to roll back repressive laws and end impunity, the space for free expression and public-interest journalism in Pakistan risks collapsing entirely.

 

 

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