On June 15, 2026, Pakistan unveils it’s first-ever freedom report assessing Political, civil, economic, digital, legal and social freedoms. The report was developed by Mishal Pakistan, the country partner of the World Economic Forum (WEF). It was launched at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) in collaboration with the China Pakistan Study Center (CPSC). The report surveyed 2000 individuals. It challenged the established pessimistic perception of the people towards several key dimensions of freedom, including political freedom, civil Liberties, Rule of Law and access to Justice, economic freedom, digital freedom and access to information, social inclusion, gender, and public trust.
The survey results paint a complex picture of civic satisfaction and areas that need policy attention. According to the survey, 77 percent of respondents said they are free to choose their occupation or profession. 75 percent of the individuals are confident about the ease of doing business without government interference. The survey findings on women’s empowerment show stark differences from global surveys: in Pakistan, 75 percent of the 2000 respondents believe that women have access to equal opportunities; however, the respondents’ gender has not been reported. In addition, 65 percent are satisfied with religious freedom and protection.
Meanwhile, some areas need policy attention, including economic security, where 58 percentpercent have expressed concern about their financial well-being. In addition, 52 percent of respondents feel they have little influence over decision-making, indicating elite capture of the government administrative decision-making machinery. Further, 69 percent have reservations about national planning, and the majority believe that it should extend beyond to achieve enduring results. Without a central policy and monitoring system, 55 percent of respondents are not confident in impartial, unbiased information, which can lead to widespread distrust.
Pakistan’s digital sector has undergone significant transformation; according to a report, the country’s information technology and freelance exports exceed US$3 billion annually. In-countrywide, there are 190 million cellular subscriptions and 140-150 million broadband users. Pakistan now has 70 million active social media users, which is instrumental in creating new economic opportunities and digital empowerment. The survey further revealed that the majority of respondents are active on Meta platforms, with 24.8 percent using Facebook and 19.9 percent using WhatsApp. Along with a significant fraction, 18 percent use websites and online portals for information. While comparatively lower, 15 percent are active on Twitter and watch television.
The rising digital sphere also poses risks from non-traditional cyber threats. For instance, Pakistan submitted more than 15391 content-related requests to major global digital platforms concerning cyber security, hate speech, and unlawful activities. However, only 45.8 percent of these requests resulted in action by the platform, exposing the asymmetry between national regulators and transnational corporations.
Slowly, the digital realm is being complemented by Pakistan’s multifaceted institutional and social landscape, as addressed in the Freedom Report. The media value chain is dynamic, vibrant, and inclusive, with over 120 licensed television channels, hundreds of publications, and an emerging digital space; however, it has a gender-digital divide: women’s share of the labor force is 20-25 percentpercent, with that of men being 65-68 percent. However, there are over 2.2 million pending cases in the courts and 102,000 people in prisons, all of which reflect the strain on systems. New challenges such as climate change, the redistribution of water, cyber threats, misinformation, accelerated urbanization, youth unemployment, and economic imbalance exacerbate governance challenges.
The report indicates a stagnant increase in pending cases, a judicial backlog, and an adjournment culture. According to the report, 2.2 million cases are pending in court, which resonates with the “Justice delayed is justice denied” dilemma. Meanwhile, this sector often gets less attention, but in the freedom report, concerns have been raised regarding prison conditions and, most notably, 102000 crowding houses.
There was a huge gap in the judicial system, with over 2.2 million pending cases, halting the justice system. In particular, there was a need to improve prison conditions, which house more than 102,000 inmates, thereby necessitating reforms to the judicial system to remove delays that impede its smooth operation and to build public confidence.
The report laid a bedrock for the indigenous research. For a long time, Pakistan has been dependent on external assessments of its social and human development sector. The data and the opinion cited in the report would be instrumental in translating them into lived realities. “Freedom must be understood not only through constitutional guarantees but also through the lived experience of citizen,” said Shafique Chaudhry. The report calls for an institutional framework to bridge the gap between policymaking and execution. Pakistan, for long, has been viewed as a hard-core security state, but evolving threats and the changing dynamics of threats, from traditional to non-traditional, demand exploration of these dimensions of human security. Open debates, constructive dialogue, and research are the core pillars of the whole social uplift. Therefore, it is crucial to adopt evidence-based policy-making and constitutional accountability.
