New Delhi: Pakistan blocked access to Al Jazeera Monday a day after the Qatari news media released a series of reports on anti-government protests and election-related unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Authorities have not announced any formal ban on the broadcaster, and the Pakistani government has not publicly commented on the reported restrictions.However, the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry late Sunday called it “selective reporting” and accused it of “misrepresenting” the elections and the voting process.
“We have taken note of Al Jazeera’s selective reporting from handpicked polling stations in Muzaffarabad today. Through carefully chosen timings and scripted statements from selected individuals, the channel has sought to misrepresent the AJK elections and the voting process,” the ministry said.
Pakistan refers to the illegally occupied region as ‘Azad’ Jammu and Kashmir.
“Such yellow journalism only confirms the agenda of external actors with vested interests who are attempting to delegitimise this electoral exercise and undermine the popular will of the people of Muzaffarabad and AJK, clearly demonstrated today in their rejection of anarchy and coercion.”
Later, multiple users across Pakistan said they were unable to access Al Jazeera’s English-language website shortly after the network aired extensive reporting from the disputed region.
Al Jazeera correspondent Kamal Hyder reported from Muzaffarabad on widespread protests, low voter turnout and allegations that heavy security deployments, roadblocks and communications disruptions had affected the electoral process.
In one report, Hyder said many residents viewed the low turnout as an expression of solidarity with the protest movement. “People are disgusted with the system. They got fed up,” a local resident told the broadcaster.
Al Jazeera was among the few major international news organisations to devote sustained coverage to the unrest, reporting on internet shutdowns, curfews, road closures and allegations by protesters that the elections were conducted under conditions that undermined their credibility. Pakistani authorities have rejected accusations of wrongdoing and defended the security measures as necessary to maintain public order.
The first public claims that the broadcaster had been blocked came from Sohaib Khan, a former official of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front’s AJK-GB chapter, who said on X that Al Jazeera’s English-language website had become inaccessible after its reporting from the region.
Just confirmed from Islamabad: The @AJEnglish website https://t.co/hEKFp7y0jE has been restricted in Pakistan following its coverage of recent events in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Silencing independent media will not hide the truth.#RightsMovementAJK #PressFreedom
— Sohaib Khan (@iamsardarsohaib) August 2, 2026
Faiza Murad, a London-based leader of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), also alleged that Pakistan had tightened reporting requirements for foreign journalists. Citing what she described as a directive from the I&B Ministry, she claimed that foreign correspondents would now require prior government approval to report from areas outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
The ministry has not publicly confirmed such a directive, while independent verification of the claim was not immediately possible.
The reported restrictions come as Pakistan faces mounting criticism over its handling of protests in PoK, where demonstrators have called for political and electoral reforms, greater autonomy and accountability for civilian deaths during clashes with security forces. The government has designated the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the group leading the protests, as a banned organisation.
Pakistan has blocked access to Al Jazeera's website following its reporting on the recent elections and the human rights situation in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
Blocking independent journalism is an attack on press freedom and the public's right to information.… pic.twitter.com/PybfN1TD5s
— JKJAAC (@JKJAAC_) August 3, 2026
“Pakistan has blocked access to Al Jazeera’s website following its reporting on the recent elections and the human rights situation,” JAAC said in a post on X.
“Blocking independent journalism is an attack on press freedom and the public’s right to information. Censorship cannot replace transparency or accountability,” it said in the post tagging the United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International among others.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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