September 14, 2020, Islamabad, Pakistan -- Gharidah Farooqi, CFWIJ member and host of TV show G for Gharidah, was subjected to a new wave of online attacks in the form of trolling, sexual slurs, verbal violence and defamation of character on September 12. She was targeted after her interview with Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh, who was criticized over his victim-balming remarks involving a gang-rape victim caused outrage.

CFWIJ condemns this incessant abuse targeted towards Gharidah and demand authorities in Pakistan to ensure her safety. These vicious attacks are orchestrated to malign our member and discredit her journalism.

During her show, Gharidah spoke to the CCPO, who issued a statement on the motorway rape case implying that the victim was also responsible for her rape.

On September 10, a woman was driving from Lahore - the capital of Punjab province - to Gujranwala with her children.. After her car broke down on the motorway, assailants attacked her, smashed her car window and raped her in a nearby field. They also robbed her cash and jewellery. Local media reported that her children were made to watch the incident. The group consisted of 15 men and two among these have been reportedly identified and arrested.

The brutal and inhumane attack on the woman, a foreign national whose name is not disclosed, sparked protests across the country. Meanwhile, the CCPO questioned the victim’s decision to travel at night with her kids during a TV show. He said the victim was at fault for "choosing the route she took and not checking her fuel tank" before heading out.

Instead of condemning the victim-blaming comments by the CCPO, some social media users chose to attack journalist Gharidah Farooqi with verbal harassment. She was called “biased and hypocrite” along with likening her comments to “barking sounds”. 

Gharidah, who has been attacked several times since 2016, exposed some of the trolls on her account and called on the government to ensure protection of women journalists. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism joined hands with Pakistani women journalists last month in order to condemn online violence against women journalists and to propose solutions to the government and political parties. Such online attacks often have offline consequences, which in Gharidah’s case resulted in her getting fired from four different jobs, following an orchestrated defamation campaign in the past. This latest surge of online attacks against Gharidah Farooqi is evidence that all stakeholders must act swiftly in order to:

1. Identify those who hold troll accounts and orchestrate targeted attacks against women journalists,

2. Effectively implementation the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), specially in such offences against dignity of a natural person,

3. Investigate networks that have been prominently engaged in launching and running coordinated attacks, hashtag campaigns and abusive campaigns against women in the media and prosecute them accordingly.