Finding peace journalism: An analysis of Pakistani media discourse on Afghan refugees and their forced repatriation from Pakistan

This study investigates media coverage of Afghan refugees by English-language media in Pakistan and explores how coverage is shaped by a shift in the political stance of the Pakistani state and establishment towards Afghanistan. The author examines how Afghan refugees, their forced repatriation from Pakistan, and the subsequent conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan were framed in both long-form and short-form media coverage over three years. Using Galtung’s Peace and War Journalism Model to inform the Critical Discourse Analysis, this study finds that conflict-escalatory frames dominated media coverage, and media stance changed over time to reflect state policy on the forced repatriation of over three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Findings reveal that the coverage in all four publications was highly politicized and inflammatory, the voice of Afghan refugees was significantly missing from coverage, while the Pakistani government and military elite were predominantly used as news sources. Based on the findings, the author argues that pressures from the Pakistani state and military establishment are key reasons why media coverage of Afghan refugees frequently contained negative frames of terrorism and ethnonationalism. Sporadic employment of limited peace-oriented framing was, however, observed in some of the coverage.