Pakistan’s 2026 guidelines require only registration, accreditation and NOCs for reporting outside major cities — they do not impose editorial control or prior approval of stories.

Similar (or stricter) rules already exist in India, Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia and the UK and are accepted there as normal security measures.

In Pakistan’s high-threat security environment, basic verification of foreign reporters is a sovereign right, not censorship; selective outrage against Pakistan alone exposes a clear double standard

Pakistan’s Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026, have triggered a predictable wave of criticism from international media outlets and advocacy groups. The outrage, however, reveals far more about selective standards than about any novel authoritarian impulse in Islamabad. Registration, accreditation and permission for reporting from sensitive areas are recognised state practices across the world. Presenting the same measures as uniquely oppressive merely because Pakistan has formalised them exposes a clear double standard.

According to the official Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s External Publicity Wing, registration is mandatory for foreign media houses and all personnel working with them, including freelancers, fixers and stringers. Accreditation is required, and a No Objection Certificate (NOC) is needed for producing news content outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Accreditation may be suspended for acts against the ideology, sovereignty, security or public order of Pakistan. Critically, the guidelines do not impose an official editorial line, nor do they require prior submission or approval of reports. They create an........

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