Threats Faced by Pakistani Women Journalists 2014 - 2020

Timeline of Events

 
 

2014

Bina Shah

Owing to her vocal stance on feminism and women’s rights, Bina’s identity was stolen and a fake Twitter profile was created with her name and images. The profile was used to abuse and harass her contacts and malign her online.

Mehr Tarar

January 18, 2014: Online harassment and abuse intensified against Mehr, following the death of Indian politician Shashi Tharoor’s wife. She was labelled a ‘home wrecker’ for an alleged affair with the politician.

Asma Shirazi

February 2014: The Taliban issued a hit-list of media houses and journalists for siding with the “disbelievers” against Muslims, in the “war on Islam” and “inciting people against the mujahideen”. Asma’s security risk multiplied tenfold due to the terrorists’ threat.

Meena Menon

May 14, 2014: The Hindu’s correspondent in Pakistan was ordered by the government to leave the country after her visa was cancelled without any explanation. She was already living under heavy surveillance and wasn’t allowed to travel outside Islamabad.

Fareeha Idrees

July 17, 2014: When discussing the opposition’s denial to legislate the Women’s Protection Bill, Fareeha was verbally harassed by a conservative politician and senator during a live political talk show.

Multiple Journalists

August 2014: Farhat Jawaid, Amna Amir, Iffat Rizvi, and Umaima Malik were attacked and manhandled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters during a protest in Lahore. Empty bottles and batons were thrown at their team and equipment. Sentiments of PTI supporters against their channel GEO resulted in these attacks.

Nosheen Abbas

September 2014: Nosheen was accused of treason and disloyalty after her story about persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan was translated into the local Urdu language. She received threatening messages and calls from religious fanatics.

Mahrukh Siddiqui

November 9, 2014: Mahrukh was slapped while trying to report on the death of children at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH). The incident was caught on camera.

Sana Mirza

December 15, 2014: Sana - a correspondent of GEO News - was attacked by PTI supporters while covering their political rally in Lahore. The DSNG van, on which she stood, was also attacked.

Maria Memon

December 15, 2014: When reporting from PTI’s political rally in Faisalabad, Maria - also associated with GEO News - was attacked by supporters of the political party at the venue, despite being invited to cover the event by party officials.

2015

Kiran Nazish

January 2015: Kiran spent several years in exile after being threatened by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. She was put under surveillance when she started her investigation on events in Waziristan.

Reham Khan

January 5, 2015: After her marriage to politician Imran Khan, Reham received harsh criticism when photos of her wearing skirts as a former BBC presenter went viral. Several of her personal photos were also leaked online.

Farzana Ali

March 10, 2015: Peshawar police harassed Farzana during the coverage of a protest rally by a political party. Farzana was a correspondent of Aaj News.

Zeenat Shahzadi

August 19, 2015: Zeenat ‘forcibly disappeared from her home in Lahore’. Her family and human rights groups suspected the involvement of Pakistan’s security agencies behind the disappearance. Zeenat was investigating and reporting about the disappearance of an Indian national Hamid Ansari.

2016

Amber Shamsi

March 2016: A group of online trolls downloaded Amber’s photographs from Facebook and photoshopped them with abusive slurs. The malicious campaign was the result of her retweeting a colleague’s tweet, which was critical of a cleric.

Zahra Haider

May 6, 2016: After Zahra wrote an essay on sexual freedom for VICE, she received a barrage of abuse from people in Pakistan, who saw her piece as an attack on Pakistan’s conservative values and culture.

Rameeza Nizami

June 2016: Rameeza was allegedly a target of online harassment by employees of her own organization. They were allegedly protesting against the non-payment of salaries. Her photos were circulated on the internet and social media to malign and harass her.

Marvi Sirmed

July 10, 2016: A politician from an Islamic political party got into an ugly verbal spat with Marvi during a current affairs show discussing women’s rights. He threatened to rape her, and tried to punch her and used abusive slurs to pull her down.

Amber Shamsi

July 15, 2016: After her story about Qandeel Baloch for BBC Urdu was published, Amber was criticized and harassed online for providing her with the coverage.

Iram Abbasi

July 15, 2016: BBC Urdu’s Iram was subjected to vitriol and graphic online trolling after she posted a status grieving the murder of Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch.

Saba Aitzaz

July 2016: Saba was targeted with systematic trolling and abuse online after her stories about honour killing and abduction of two different women in Pakistan. She was threatened with acid attacks and feared for her safety.

Saima Kanwal

21, 2016: A Frontier Constabulary guard slapped Saima on the face during the recording of her show at an identity card issuing office in Karachi. Instead of helping her, the police accepted an FIR against her for creating “hindrances in official work”.

2018

Sara Farid

April 2018: Sara fled from Pakistan after her husband Taha Siddiqui was attacked by the country’s security agencies and military. She now lives in exile in Paris alongside her family. She had been subjected to serious surveillance long before she left the country.

Marvi Sirmed

June 19, 2018: Marvi’s home in Islamabad was broken into. Her laptop, smartphone, valid passports of her family members, travel documents and valuables were stolen.

Gul Bukhari

June 5, 2018: Gul was abducted and briefly detained by unidentified men when she was on her way to record a talk show. She is the second woman journalist to have been abducted in the country. Gul is a vocal critic of state institutions in Pakistan and supports the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement - a civil rights movement in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Asma Shirazi

July 8, 2018: An online smear campaign against Asma intensified both before and during the general elections in 2018. She was targeted for reporting about the former PM Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan.

Natasha Raheel

December 2018: Natasha received immense backlash online after she refused to vote for football player Christiano Ronaldo during Ballon d'Or because of his murky history as a harasser.

2020

Munizae Jehangir

January 28, 2020: Munizae’s show was censored when she questioned the persecution of civil rights activists and a parliamentarian in Islamabad.

Gul Bukhari

February 11, 2020: Gul was threatened with terrorism charges for “defamatory remarks” against state institutions. Staff members from the Pakistan HIgh Commission in London were trying to pry on her.

Shaista Hakim

February 15, 2020: The local press club refused to accept her credentials because she is a woman, despite being the first woman journalist in Swat. She works in the extremely conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa state. The Electronic Media Association also refused to add her as a member.

Multiple journalists

August 12, 2020: Women journalists in Pakistan are encountering vicious social media attacks, doxing, and hacking attempts by accounts affiliated to the ruling party and conservative, right-wing elements in the country.

 
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