There are certain elements in pakistan who say that media is not free in Pakistan and there are certain restrictions which should be removed., but they do not pinpoint the restrictions.According to the constitution of Pakistan article 19 and 19 A the media has total freedom to write, express their views as well association., however state secrets which pertains to the security and wellbeing of the people cannot be shared with the media.This rule applies to all the sovereign states of the world including Pakistan.Any media person if dare break the rule, he is either arrested or introgatted thoroughly about the news printed or released on TV. Yet there are some journalists, however who mislead the nation by saying that the establishment some time try to suppress the news through telephone calls or intimidating them.This is untrue and unfounded as these journalists(not all ) try to malign the establishment as a part of foreign propaganda to serve the interest of those out side powers as well the vested groups operating in Pakistan.If you watch the tv especially the talk shows on some Pakistani channels you will be shocked to listen the language used by the experts about the press freedom in Pakistan , they say the media in Pakistan is gauged and not free and pointout the finger towards establishment.Such misleading assertions lead to discord between the army and the government., which is basically the narrative of india who want to subjugate Pakistan like Bangladesh.Such scenario was common during Nawaz sharif tenure in which the Government ministers were part and parcel to create wage between the establishment and the government so that the army should behave like police.In other words, as some well informed persons told me that Ex primeMinister Nawaz sharif supported such elements in the government as well in the media who conspired to malign the image of the army to weaken its influence in governance. When such element were questioned about thier behavior, they cried foul and said that the establishment is suppressing the freedom of the press.The Dawn leake is an example in which the Government and the certain elements in the media were very active to propagate that the establishment wants to curb the freedom of the press as the news that apeared in the Dawn was correct, and the news did not as claimed by the dawn reporter did not harm the interest of the state.The fact is otherwise.
However now the establishment and the Government have cordial relationship based on mutual understanding to accelerate the economic growth and bring back the looted money from abroad.This mutual understanding has reached after many years with the sole purpose to eliminate corruption from the government functionaries and punish those who were involved in it.The vested interest and some politicians are not happy with this arrangement ie good relationship with the establishment and the government as also some media persons who allegedly receive money from some politicians and Raw. The unfounded and baseless statements that the media is being harassed by the establishment And curb their freedom is meant only to please their masters who are existential threat to Pakistan.No state on earth will allow press freedom which threatens the national interest and since Pakistan is under siege how the media be allowed to act against the vital interest of the state. A sensible media and the state work together to strengthen the national gains and not against it.According to the media watch in paris says that Pakistani media is more free than any media in Asia.