Akbar Notezai

Journalist at Dawn newspaper

[Akbar Notezai @Akbar_notezai]

In today's Dawn!
https://t.co/rDbQy6nazY

[Global Investigative Journalism Network @gijn]

Join the sessions and networking opportunities at #IJWeek to exchange ideas, learn from fellow journalists, and explore ways to collaborate across borders and beats.

2/2

[Akbar Notezai @Akbar_notezai]

https://t.co/b7nZc3TVDl

[Kamal Chomani @KamalChomani]

If you prefer reading, here is the full Q:A in English that our @the_amargi team has provided for you:

https://t.co/hKLggYjB5c

[Kiyya Baloch @KiyyaBaloch]

13 killed, 20+ injured in Kachhi, Balochistan. No ambulances, no facilities in local hospitals. Locals crowdfunded and used private cars to take the wounded to Quetta, while the provincial govt is busy with PR for its health system and air ambulance.

[Alifya Sohail @AlifyaSohail]

BREAKING: Gulzadi Baloch of BYC has been sentenced to life imprisonment by Additional District Judge Quetta.

[Akbar Notezai @Akbar_notezai]

@gijn

[Esma @EsmaErdi219942]

Oldukça sevimli.

[Akbar Notezai @Akbar_notezai]

Qazi has been described as the poet of “resistance” and as a “revolutionary”, among other titles. But his poetry defines him “as the purest Baloch poet” who did not flinch while narrating about his people and his land.
https://t.co/nNOBxCogdX

[Benazir Shah @Benazir_Shah]

"The Balochistan Home Department has dismissed 100 government employees, including 95 university teachers, over allegations of promoting anti-state narrative."

https://t.co/LDTywo5x0H

[Dawn.com @dawn_com]

The rights body said the decision, along with the reported bar on new admissions for Afghan students, had put the education, safety and future of young Afghans at immediate risk. https://t.co/MZ8JIsw95Z

[Akbar Notezai @Akbar_notezai]

In today's Dawn!
https://t.co/onUagVNYl1

[Reuters @Reuters]

Kurdish women fighters became symbols of the battle against Islamic State. But they say Syria's new Islamist-led authorities have told them there's no place for women — even their experienced battalions — in the country's military. Lucy Fielder has more https://t.co/yufA0G4HMV

[Daily Intekhab @Intekhabhd]

وزیر اعلیٰ اور وزیر داخلہ کےخلاف پریس کانفرنس کرنے پر ڈاکٹر عائشہ فیض گرفتار https://t.co/raZgBKdy5o

[Akbar Notezai @Akbar_notezai]

With the death of Sardar Ataullah Mengal, an era of Baloch politics also comes to an end
https://t.co/zQvLb10iuJ

[indianhistorypics @IndiaHistorypic]

1941 :: Dawn Newspaper Founded by Mohammad Ali Jinnah In New Delhi

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

Japan is a trendsetter and tastemaker in everything from video games to fashion and design. We explain the success of the country’s latest cultural export: listening bars https://t.co/YB1w3jhV9C

Photo: EBBA ARCHITECTS/SpaceTalk

[Kiyya Baloch @KiyyaBaloch]

Such a great relief. Baloch publisher Ghani Baloch, who was forcibly disappeared in May 2025, has resurfaced in Hudda District Jail, Quetta, his lawyer @imranbaloch1, confirmed this in a public statement. Enforced disappearances are a crime & an inhumane act that must stop!

[Human Rights Commission of Pakistan @HRCP87]

Press release

HRCP roundtable calls for coalition to defend freedom of expression

19 August 2026, Karachi: At a roundtable convened by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) earlier today, journalists, editors, digital media practitioners, artists, academics and human rights defenders from across Pakistan agreed to establish a broad national alliance to confront the escalating assault on freedom of expression.

Organised with the support of the European Union, the roundtable brought together leading media professionals and rights advocates, including Nasir Zaidi, Azhar Abbas, @WusatUllahKhan, Husain Naqi, Salima Hashmi, @ZarrarKhuhro, Sohail Sangi, Dr Tauseef Ahmed, @AmberRShamsi, @farzanaalispark, @OwaisTohid, @ShahzebJillani, @ShahzadaZulfiqa, Munaza Siddiqui, Amir Suhail, @Mehmal Sarfaz, @Akbar_notezai, @AsadAToor, @AbsaKomal, Fazil Jamili, Waqas Alam, Rustam Ali, @adnanrehmat1, @farahziaa, Harris Khalique and HRCP chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt.

Participants warned that Pakistan was witnessing one of the gravest crises for freedom of expression in recent decades. They pointed to the unchecked abuse of laws such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), expanding censorship, surveillance, arbitrary restrictions on online expression, shrinking access to information, intimidation of journalists and increasing pressure on independent, regional and digital media. Importantly, they stressed that these curbs no longer affected journalists alone, but also ordinary citizens exercising their constitutional right to free expression.

The proposed alliance will bring together journalists' unions, press clubs, freelance and digital journalists, lawyers, artists, civil society organisations and other democratic actors to coordinate advocacy, strategic litigation, documentation, rapid-response mechanisms and public mobilisation in defence of freedom of expression across Pakistan.

Participants also agreed on a common reform agenda. They called for the repeal or amendment of laws, regulations and administrative measures that criminalise dissent, restrict online speech or enable censorship; an end to impunity for attacks, enforced disappearances, killings, threats and harassment of journalists; and stronger safeguards to protect editorial independence from political, commercial and institutional interference.

The meeting further emphasised the need to create safer and more equitable spaces for women journalists and to extend equal protections to freelance and digital media practitioners. Participants urged journalists' unions, associations and press clubs to modernise their role by providing legal assistance, collective representation and emergency safety support, while calling on media organisations to guarantee fair wages, written contracts, insurance and safe working conditions. Recognising Pakistan's diversity, participants stressed that efforts to defend freedom of expression must reflect the distinct realities of all provinces and territories, ensuring that regional voices and civic spaces are equally protected.

Asad Iqbal Butt
Chairperson

@EUPakistan

[Reuters @Reuters]

Limits on women's education in Afghanistan will likely further weaken school quality, UNESCO says https://t.co/eBcyamFiNA https://t.co/eBcyamFiNA

[Farahnaz Zahidi Moazzam @FarahnazZahidi]

The human cost of development. Fishers struggle as Gwadar port grows! Twenty years of foreign investment turned a town on Pakistan’s coast into a huge port, which fishers say has made their lives far harder.
@Akbar_notezai writes for @DialogueEarth_ .
https://t.co/Bf9Yqs1jv1