RMNP Joins International Press Freedom Groups in Appeal to PM Sharif

Mian Zahid Owaisi: Joint Appeal Seeks Justice for Assaulted Bahawalpur Journalist and Urgent Action on Pakistan’s Deteriorating Press Freedom Climate

ISLAMABAD/BAHAWALPUR — The Rural Media Network Pakistan (RMNP) has co-signed a joint letter, sent September 11, 2026, addressed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, alongside eight other national and international press freedom and human rights organizations: the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Press Institute (IPI), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Bolo Bhi, and Freedom Network Pakistan.

The letter warns that Pakistan’s press freedom climate has deteriorated rapidly in recent months, citing journalists who have disappeared, faced detention and criminal investigation, been blocked from reporting in parts of the country, or lost their jobs under government and law-enforcement pressure. It singles out the growing use of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) and investigations by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) against journalists reporting on matters of public interest.

Justice Demanded for Mian Zahid Owaisi

Among its core demands, the letter calls for a prompt, transparent investigation into the June 7 attack on reporter Mian Zahid Owaisi, and for all those responsible to be brought to justice. Owaisi, a reporter for the Urdu-language newspaper Daily Khabrain in Bahawalpur, Punjab, was assaulted by around ten armed individuals and left with multiple injuries. He told police the attack was connected to his reporting on local drug trafficking. While three suspects were arrested afterward, the letter notes that several assailants remain at large nearly three months later — and it urges the government to hold all those responsible to account.

Other Demands in the Letter

The coalition also urges the Pakistani government to:

• Account for missing journalists Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif and secure their swift release. The two, who published through Tahir’s social media channels, were seized and taken to an undisclosed location on August 1; Islamabad police have not acknowledged their detention, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
• Withdraw the Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, which require Pakistani and international journalists contributing to foreign outlets to obtain a no-objection certificate for assignments outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, and which let authorities suspend accreditation for reporting deemed contrary to the state’s “ideology, sovereignty, security, or public order.”
• Stop using PECA and NCCIA investigations to criminalize journalism, citing the case of journalist Sohrab Barkat, arrested in June over a YouTube report on protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
• Cease using internet and telecommunications blackouts to restrict reporting, referencing the blackout imposed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in June and the blocking of Al Jazeera’s website in August.
• Stop interfering in the operations of independent broadcasters, pointing to the dismissal of veteran journalist Munizae Jahangir from Aaj TV in July and the 15-day suspension of Geo News’s broadcast license in June.

Background

RMNP has been closely engaged with the Owaisi case since the June 7 attack, working alongside CPJ on documentation and advocacy. RSF and the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) issued earlier, separate statements on the attack. This joint letter marks a coordinated follow-up by nine organizations directly to the Prime Minister’s Office.

CPJ confirmed the letter’s release in a post on its website on September 10–11, 2026, noting the coalition’s call for accountability from those responsible for threatening, harassing, or arbitrarily detaining journalists.

Read the full joint letter: [CPJ: “CPJ, partners call Pakistan’s prime minister to address alarming deterioration in press freedom”