PTI condemns Silencing Journalists, Media Houses Through Economic Strangulation

Editorial Independence Under Threat as Abbas Nasir’s Case a Stark Reminder: Waqas

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) CIS Sheikh Waqas Akram said PTI strongly condemned the continued muzzling of journalists and media houses and the recent account of senior Dawn columnist Abbas Nasir is a stark reminder of what is at stake.

In a statement issued by PTI Central Media Department on Sunday, PTI CIS Sheikh Waqas said the pressure is no longer hidden — it is systematic. “Independent voices are being pushed out, not through open bans, but through quiet, calculated economic strangulation,” he added.

“The recent account of Abbas Nasir is a stark reminder of what is at stake. For years, Dawn stood as a symbol of editorial independence, where writers were allowed to speak freely and editors absorbed the pressure. Today, that independence is being punished,” PTI CIS lamented.

Waqas stated that with each passing day under this regime, ‘Pakistan feels closer to an undeclared martial law, as democratic norms are being eroded, dissent is being stifled, and institutions are being reduced to mere formality’. “This is not governance — it is control,” he added.

He said that the most serious victim of this environment is the free media. “Government advertisements have been withheld, and private advertisers are being discouraged — even pressured — from supporting independent platforms. This is nothing less than economic censorship,” Waqas stated.

Akram said when media is silenced, truth is the first casualty. He reiterated that PTI stands firmly with journalists and media institutions resisting this pressure, adding that a country cannot claim to be democratic while it suppresses its own voice.