Freedom Network has counted 97 violations against journalists and media workers in Pakistan between October 2025 and August 2026. The total is lower than the 142 cases recorded in the previous cycle, yet the watchdog says Pakistan remained deeply hostile to journalism. The reason is a shift in method: legal threats and legal actions now make up almost half of all cases. In the watchdog’s phrase, impunity has evolved from a failure to punish violence into a broader system of coercion, and the process itself has become the punishment.
Freedom Network released its annual Impunity Report 2026, titled From Violence to Lawfare: Process as Punishment for Journalists, on October 29, ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2. The report, authored by Adnan Rehmat and Executive Director Iqbal Khattak, records one work related killing, three attempted assassinations, 18 threats of murder or harm, 11 assaults, 13 legal actions and 32 threats of legal action.
The arithmetic that changes the story
As shares, the shift is clear. The 13 legal actions plus the 32 threats of legal action add up to 45 cases, or about 46 percent of the 97 total. The violent categories, one killing, three attempted assassinations, 18 threats of murder or harm and 11 assaults, add up to 33 cases, or about 34 percent. Legal pressure is therefore the larger bloc, outnumbering the violent bloc by 12 cases. The fall from 142 to 97 is about 32 percent, but that does not mean the danger fell by a third for journalists still being summoned or threatened with a case.
Who is being targeted
Punjab recorded 49 cases, just over half the total, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Balochistan. Digital and independent journalists were targeted most often, and victims or their families identified government authorities and officials as the alleged instigators in nearly two thirds of cases.
How lawfare works, step by step
The report’s most useful contribution is its description of the pipeline. Allegations involving defamation, false information, harassment or reputational harm are repeatedly channelled through cybercrime procedures, including where reporting concerns public spending, corruption or official conduct. The sequence runs from complaint to notice or inquiry, then to appearance, a first information report, arrest and bail, and finally to relief, an apology or an unresolved prosecution.
The punishment sits inside that sequence rather than at its end. Summons, device scrutiny, legal costs, detention and repeated hearings accumulate long before any court decides the case. Relief, where it comes, is commonly limited to bail or procedural protection rather than final vindication. A journalist eventually cleared has still lost months, money and peace of mind, and others watching learn the same lesson without any conviction being recorded.
The instrument at the centre of this pattern is the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, enforced by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, which the report calls central to this legal siege of online journalism. That framing connects to stories PakMirror covered this month: the NCCIA cybercrime crackdown that arrested 1,129 suspects in a single month, and the Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha case, which began with 17 year PECA sentences.
The protection system that is supposed to stop this
Pakistan already has two journalist protection laws, passed in 2022, and two safety commissions, one federal and one in Sindh. The report finds safeguards inadequate: the federal mechanism is effectively dysfunctional, while the Sindh Commission, although more visible, has limited reach and impact outside Karachi. The bodies created to enforce protection are not resourced, reachable or effective enough to change outcomes.
The report calls for resourced safety bodies, clearer PECA protections for journalism, strict safeguards on notices, arrests and device seizure, independent tracking of cases, rapid legal aid and digital security support, and accountability for perpetrators and officials who misuse legal process.
What November 2 should be judged on
The report was deliberately released ahead of November 2, and that date gives three concrete tests. First, do the federal and Sindh commissions publish any action tied to the 97 cases? Second, does any authority announce a safeguard on PECA notices, arrests or device seizure? Third, is there any accountability in the one killing or the three attempted assassinations documented in this cycle?
The longer record makes the third test the hardest. Freedom Network says more than 170 journalists have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan since January 2000, and the killers of only three have been punished. Against that history, a falling total is welcome but not reassuring: fewer cases can still mean a more effective system of control. The same logic applies beyond newsrooms, as the PEMRA live coverage restrictions for television channels imposed on October 13 show. For more coverage, see national news from Pakistan.
