PoJK, July 18 -- In Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), once echoed with journalistic voices, a silent crisis is unfolding: the collapse of the print media. Once printing over 10,000 copies a day, newspapers in Muzaffarabad now struggle to cross even 900.

This dramatic decline exposes the hollow reality behind Pakistan's claims of press freedom.

Journalists in PoJK are facing unprecedented exploitation. Owners of media houses collect large government subsidies under the pretence of operating thriving publications but fail to pay even basic salaries to their staff. "Our voices are being buried under financial suffocation," said a local journalist who feared retribution for speaking openly.

Dissent in editorial content is met wit...