This report presents country of origin information (COI) on Pakistan from September 2016 up to 15th March 2018 on issues identified by UNHCR to be of relevance in refugee status determination for Pakistani nationals not including the Pakistan-administered Kashmir region. COI specifically relevant for the assessment of religion-based claims has not been included.
The COI presented is illustrative, but not exhaustive of the information available in the public domain, nor is it determinative of any individual human rights or asylum claim. All sources are publicly available and a direct hyperlink has been provided. It should be understood that as elucidated by Cyril Almeida, Assistant editor and journalist of the Dawn newspaper, Pakistan in a presentation for an October 2017 EASO COI meeting: […] please note that if you follow the media or the press in Pakistan, you cannot truly understand Pakistan because there are many areas and subjects which are no-go areas. There are topics and issues that don’t get the coverage that they should, sometimes because there are no resources because of the media’s own constraints, but often because of pressure from all sides – State pressure, militancy pressure and extremism pressure. A couple of newspapers, for example, have been unofficially banned in military cantonments in the country. That is something not discussed publicly, but there are a range of issues and pressures that exist in Pakistan that a reader may not necessarily get a sense of just by consuming media coverage in the country.
Read more: Refworld, https://is.gd/Hq14hN
