Pakistan's government has issued new rules requiring journalists who work for foreign media to register with the state, obtain official accreditation and secure a No Objection Certificate (NOC) before reporting from most of the country, a framework the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) says will stifle independent journalism rather than assist it.

The Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through its External Publicity (EP) Wing, set out a detailed system for the registration, accreditation and movement of foreign media organisations and the people who work for them.

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Under the guidelines, registration with the EP Wing is mandatory before a journalist can be accredited. Once registered or accredited, foreign media personnel must obtain an NOC from the EP Wing to travel to any city other than Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi in order to produce, in the document's words, "news content, story, video, film, documentary or social media content" for official use.

The rules are broad. They apply to all foreign and international print, electronic and digital media, including social media and web-based platforms. They cover not only foreign correspondents but also Pakistani nationals working for international outlets journalists, freelancers, fixers, translators, camera operators, sponsors, "attached persons" and production companies working in any capacity for foreign media. Pakistani journalists living abroad and contributing to foreign outlets must apply through the same online portal and route their case through the nearest Pakistani mission.

The document also lists grounds on which the EP Wing may refuse or withdraw accreditation, including where a person "acts against the ideology, sovereignty, security, or public order of Pakistan," misuses a journalist visa or NOC, or fails to notify the wing of an organisational change within seven days. One clause allows the EP Wing to act "at any stage" whenever it "deems appropriate." The wing says it will issue only QR-enabled PVC cards, and that no other press cards will be accepted. Notably, leisure trips to the hill resorts of Abbottabad and Murree are singled out for a faster, three-day NOC.

The practical effect is that international media can report freely only from three cities. Everywhere else including Balochistan, one of the most difficult regions in the country for journalists to access now depends on prior state permission.

This formalises a barrier that has long operated informally. Foreign journalists seeking to report from Balochistan have for years faced delays, denials and unanswered NOC requests, and independent coverage of the province's security situation, enforced disappearances and resource projects has remained thin as a result. By writing the NOC requirement into policy, the guidelines give that gatekeeping a clear legal footing.

HRCP said it was "deeply concerned" by the guidelines, arguing that "rather than facilitating journalism," they "will invariably institutionalise bureaucratic control over news gathering and risk deterring independent reporting on matters of public interest."

The commission called the framework the latest in a growing pattern of restrictions on media freedom in Pakistan, saying the space for independent journalism had continued to shrink through "arbitrary curbs on reporting and increasing censorship" as well as legal and administrative barriers. The requirement that journalists obtain state approval to report from large parts of the country, it said, "sends a chilling message: that critical reporting is unwelcome." HRCP urged the government to withdraw the measures and to uphold its constitutional and international obligations to protect freedom of expression.

Other press-freedom voices echoed the concern. Political commentator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar described the measures as an attempt to restrict international journalism in an already shrinking space, calling them "tantamount to choking international media." The guidelines do not specify how long the NOC approval process will take a silence critics say leaves reporting on breaking events outside the three cities effectively at the ministry's discretion.

The government has defended the rules as an administrative mechanism for facilitating foreign media. The guidelines were issued within days of official criticism of international coverage including by Al Jazeera and the BBC of elections and unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which the government accused of bias.