ISLAMABAD: Press freedom is under pressure in Pakistan, says a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists released Wednesday.

The army has “quietly, but effectively, set restrictions on reporting”, from barring access to encouraging self-censorship “through direct and indirect methods of intimidation”, the report alleges. “Privately, senior editors and journalists say the conditions for the free press are as bad as when the country was under military dictatorship, and journalists were flogged and newspapers forced to close,” it adds.

A “more cautious approach to covering sensitive topics — essentially self-censorship — accounts for much of the reduction in violence”, it cites an advocacy group as saying. The report gives voice to several journalists who say they have been subjected to intimidation tactics, a rarity as self-censorship grows.

Some 88 percent of the 159 reporters interviewed by the NGO Media Matters for Democracy claim to censor what they write or report, with seven in 10 saying that doing so made them feel safer. The CPJ said the military had not responded to requests for comment. The army has long denied such accusations.—AFP