The government of Pakistan 's southern Sindh province banned six newspapers in the city of Karachi on charges of publishing “obscene photographs” and “blackmail.” The owners of the newspapers and staff were arrested including Ashfaq Jafri, Hanif Dwami, Liaquat Ali, Aleem Azad, Nisar, Tariq Ali, Mehboob, Abrar, Danish, Aziz, Ashfaq Jaffery, Iqbal Saif, Ghulam Shah, Ali Angora Abrar and Ghulam Mohammed. Offices of Morning Special , Evening Special , Zamana , Daily Special and Mid Special were sealed.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued a notice to private FM radio stations to stop re-broadcasting foreign programs. The directive followed a high court restraint on FM 103 in Lahore from re-broadcasting Urdu bulletins produced by BBC under an agreement between the two broadcasters.

Magazine banned, editor arrested November 4, 2004

Ghulam Shehzad Agha, editor of Kargil International magazine, was arrested from Skardu in the north and charged with backing autonomy for Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the country's dispute with India . His magazine was banned on September 8, 2004 for allegedly carrying seditious and unpatriotic news.

Newsweek magazine banned – November 22, 2004

The 22 November edition of international news magazine Newsweek was banned in Pakistan for publishing material that “shows the Koran in bad light”. All copies of the journal were ordered seized and burned. The edition carried an article titled “Clash of Civilizations” about murdered Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh and pictures of a woman with Koranic verses inscribed on her body.

Ban on government advertisements – 14 January 2005

A resolution passed by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors condemned the use of “press advice” as a form of “government intervention in the affairs of the press.” The CPNE also expressed concern over the suspension of government advertisements in newspapers that do not abide by the advice. The new round of suspension of advertisements came in an effort to persuade newspapers to tone down their coverage of sectarian violence in Pakistan 's far north an unrelated incident of alleged gang rape involving a female doctor in a sensitive area of Balochistan province, which is suffering from serious law and order problems. Earlier, government advertisements to The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt remained suspended for nine months and the ban was lifted in September 2004. On July 9, 2004 , the government suspended advertisements to daily Jinnah . The newspaper claimed the action was in retaliation for its independent editorial policy.