Threats faced by Pakistani women journalists 2014-2020
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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”.
2017Tanzila Mazhar and Yashfeen Jamal
March 1, 2017: Both journalists were temporarily banned from working at the state-owned Pakistan Television, after an inquiry into their sexual harassment complaint - against a senior male colleague - began.
Iffat Zehra Rizvi
March 7, 2017: Iffat was harassed and threatened by Imran Khan’s supporters online after she posted a video of Khan degrading foriegn cricket players by calling them names.
Saba Bajeer
July 21, 2017: Saba was harassed and briefly detained by an officer of the Federal Investigation Agency. She was forced to delete images from her phone. However, when she refused to hand over her phone the officer slammed her into a wall. Saba was targeted for questioning a government department head about his arrest.
Zeenat Shahzadi
October 20, 2017: Security personnel recovered Zeenat. But soon after she was found, Zeenat disappeared again.
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.
2019Gharidah Farooqi
March 23, 2019: After tweeting that the Christchurch attacker had visited Pakistan, Gharida faced an onslaught of abuse online. She received death threats and a malicious campaign was initiated against her. Gharidah has taken her trolls to court.
Marvi Sirmed
March 29, 2019: A smear campaign against Marvi falsely accused her of promoting incest in the country. She was targeted with fabricated news and was incessantly abused by harassers online. Marvi was on the radar of Pakistan’s security agencies and was also critical about militant groups in the country.
Mariana Baabar Pashteen
April 8, 2019: Mariana was receiving threats, allegedly for her Twitter handle that includes the name Pashteen. She was questioned by military officials at her home. Mariana supports the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement.
Asma Shirazi
July 7, 2019: Two break-in attempts at Asma’s home in Islamabad put her safety at risk. The break-ins took place when she was abroad on a vacation with her family. She was simultaneously battling serious vitriol online as journalists came under attack.
Sonia Shehzad
July 22, 2019: A professor at the University of Karachi filed a lawsuit against Sonia after she broke a story about sexual allegations against him.
Multiple journalists
October 27 - November 1, 2019: Ramisha, Ayesha Tanzeem, Shiffa Z. Yousafzai, and Annie Shirazi, were harassed and intimidated in different cities around the country during the political opposition’s ‘Freedom March’. The ultra-conservative political group’s supporters were against women journalists reporting at the venue.
Munizae Jehangir
December 10, 2019: Munizae’s show was abruptly taken off air soon after she discussed the issue of missing persons with her guest, for International Human Rights Day.
Urooj Iqbal
November 25, 2019: Urooj was murdered by her husband outside her office in Lahore. She was killed because she refused to give up her work as a journalist.
Kinza Malik
December 11, 2019: Kinza was attacked by lawyers during hours of continued violence by them in a Lahore hospital. She was injured due to stone pelting and her phone was also snatched.
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.
