Freedom of expression is globally recognized as the foundation of human rights, which are protected by a multitude of regional and international treaties, charters, and frameworks.¹ In other words, freedom of speech/expression is an assurance to citizens to participate effectively in the functioning of democracy. Sun (2014) is of the view that:

In a democratic society, freedom of expression not only empowers the decision makers to fully appreciate the strength of the diversity of opinions but also encourages the acceptance of such diverse views (Sun 2014).

In today’s world, democratic governments face some challenges related to freedom of expression. The...

Conducted during August-September 2015, the locale of the study was Lahore, Multan and Khanewal districts in the Punjab, and Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Karachi, and Sukkur districts in Sindh. These sites were chosen for their risk factor, rural/ urban demography and multi-ethnic and multi-religious compositions, which would allow for greater cross-cultural comparisons. The districts selected from the Punjab are known to have reported most of the blasphemy cases. It may be mentioned that since the blasphemy law is more than often exploited in Pakistan, some links can be found with regard to the violation of freedom of expression (Ashraf 2014).

According to...

Under Article 19 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, freedom of speech is guaranteed to all citizens albeit with certain restrictions that include “glory of Islam”, “law and order” and “national security” (Hamdani 2014). These restrictions have often been exploited against different groups, most importantly against religious minorities especially on account of anti-blasphemy legislation and voting subjugation (CRSS 2014).

General Zia’s regime promoted state-sponsored religion, which nourished sentiments of extremism (Siddique and Hayat 2008). Freedom of expression not only entails free speech but also constitutes freedom of choosing and practicing a religion of one’s own choice, exercising one’s free political...

Government is an important player with regard to control over information. Despite the constitutional provision of right to information (Article 19A³), the available information accessible by the public is very limited. One major gap in this regard is the lack of statistical data available on major socioeconomic matters. The last population census was carried out in 1998 and since then there has been no major efforts to initiate a new one. All the budget allocations and resource distributions are based either on the outdated 17-year old census or substitute databases and surveys that are not holistic enough to depict the...

In Pakistan, there are restrictions on the freedom of expression despite having its provision in the Constitution. Multiple factors and actors are contributing to the current state of affairs with respect to freedom of expression. Mainly it is restricted through tactics that include censorship, narrow legislation, and harassment/killing of journalists/ human right activist and others who voice their opinions. Other tactics are crackdown on religious minorities, and suppressing free thought and religious opinion.

Though laws are important in governing the freedom to express oneself, it also allows room for impunity to the powerful violators while punishing the peaceful segment of...