Coda Story • 24th October 2019

Pakistan moves to install nationwide 'web monitoring system'

Pakistan’s outsourcing of web monitoring to a controversial Canada-based company raises concerns about censorship.

Global Investigative Journalism Network • 8th July 2019

Dawn, Pakistan’s Paper of Record, Under Pressure as Military Tightens Grip

Baqir Sajjad was unlocking his car after meeting a British diplomat at a renowned café in an Islamabad market when he was approached by two men in civilian clothes. “Why did you meet him?” he was asked. Sajjad – who is a foreign affairs and national security correspondent for Pakistan’s leading English newspaper Dawn – was exasperated. He showed them his credentials and explained it was part of his routine to meet diplomats from all over the world. The men, whom Sajjad believed were “low-level

Coda Story • 19th February 2019

Warnings to Journalists Blur Twitter’s Transparency in Pakistan

Scores of prominent Pakistani journalists and activists have received email warnings from Twitter informing them their tweets are in violation of Pakistan’s laws. The consequences for press freedoms could be dire.

Columbia Journalism Review • 1st January 2019

The Pakistan government’s financial squeeze on journalism

On October 30, the entrance to Pakistan’s Parliament House, in Islamabad, was bustling with journalists, parliamentarians, and political activists. But rather than reporting, the journalists were protesting. A few sat on the ground, making pakodas—a South Asian fried snack—while others, placards in hands, chanted angry slogans. The reporters had gathered to protest random and immediate layoffs by their media organizations. Over the past few weeks, dozens of journalists had been fired, their emp

The Christian Science Monitor • 24th July 2018

As Pakistan votes, military tightens its leash on the media

Voting rights, peaceful polls, transparency: All are key to fair elections. Another building block is an independent media, which many Pakistanis say is under threat ahead of tomorrow's vote.

DailyO • 21st July 2018

Nawaz Sharif, Maryam to be arrested: Before polls, a coup creeps up in Pakistan

The Diplomat • 21st July 2018

Pakistan's Censorship Takes a Dangerous Turn

The Diplomat • 21st July 2018

Pakistan Silences Its Critics

Newsline Magazine • 21st July 2018

Cover story: Murder in the Name of Honour

Newsline Magazine • 21st July 2018

The Other Side of Midnight

Reuters • 15th July 2018

FEATURE-Fresh fear of "honour" violence stalks Pakistani victim

Hundreds of women and men are killed each year by their families in Pakistan over perceived damage to "honour"

IN • 15th July 2018

Pakistan repatriation push, rising hostility alarms Afghan refugees

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Almost 40 years after seeking sanctuary in Pakistan, Nusheen Bibi lives in fear of being expelled from the only country she has ever known.

Refugees • 15th July 2018

Police Harassment Drives Afghan Out of Pakistan

In the second part of our “Return to Afghanistan” series, Umer Ali speaks to Afghan refugees in Pakistan forced to return to their country because of intimidation and fear – challenging U.N. claims that cash payments are prompting them to volunteer for repatriation.

Refugees • 15th July 2018

‘I Don’t Want to Go Back to Afghanistan to Get Butchered’

In the third part of our “Return to Afghanistan” series, Umer Ali meets transgender refugees who fear that being forced to leave Pakistan amounts to a death sentence.

Refugees • 14th July 2018

Tweeting Hatred: The Hounding of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

As hundreds of thousands of Afghans are coerced into returning to Afghanistan from Pakistan, journalist Umer Ali examines the online hatred that has helped poison attitudes to refugees.

Herald Magazine • 29th March 2018

Faking news: The dark side of news media

Umer Ali writes an in-depth account of the spread of fake news and malicious propaganda in online spaces, which endanger lives and divides the already polarised society.

The Indian Express • 1st December 2017

Why are Barelvis wielding new political influence in Pakistan?

The public perception after the crackdown against protestors is overwhelmingly anti-PML(N), while the Pakistan military has gained more sympathy for refusing the act against them. The stage has now been set for the PML(N) exit in the elections next year.

The Indian Express • 8th December 2016

Uri ‘terror guides’ are Class 10 Pakistani kids who strayed across, say family, school

TWO Pakistanis arrested by the Army on charges of facilitating the attack on the 12 Infantry Brigade’s headquarters in Uri are Class 10 students who strayed across the Line of Control (LoC), the family of one and the principal of his school have told The Indian Express. The Ministry of External Affairs said the two had confessed to facilitating the “infiltration of a group of four Jaish-e-Muhammad cadre who carried out the Uri army camp attack.” Faisal Husain Awan, a resident of Potha Jandgran n

Dawn.com • 15th May 2016

Junaid Hafeez: condemned forever?

While the name Junaid Hafeez adorns the honour board at Jackson State University, he himself lies on a concrete floor in a jail cell, waiting for his case to inch forward.