The clampdown on Pakistani media is not going unnoticed by the rest of the world.

BBC is the latest foreign publication to take note of the crackdown ahead of the general elections.

"Imagine waking up in New York without the New York Times, newspaper kiosks shut down and hawkers off the streets. That is what many Pakistanis have been feeling for months as Dawn - Pakistan's largest English-language newspaper - has disappeared from their breakfast tables."

The article titled 'The assault on Pakistan media ahead of vote', written by Lahore-based journalist Ahmed Rashid, talks about how Dawn has faced intimidation, harassment of its journalists, a ban on hawkers distributing the newspaper in every city in the country, and massive cuts in revenue as advertisers are warned not to promote their goods in Dawn.

It also refers to Dawn's recently published frank and stinging editorial, titled 'Targeting Dawn', in which the publication asked the "highest authorities to take note and intervene appropriately".

With advocates of media freedom raising their voice locally and globally, it is high time that those in power pay heed and lift this censorship.