In Pakistan, social media gives women a space to speak up — at their own risk

In this picture taken on July 12, 2018, students use their mobile phones at a campus in Islamabad. (AFP/File)
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Updated 03 August 2021
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In Pakistan, social media gives women a space to speak up — at their own risk

  • Since July 20 murder of Noor Mukadam, Pakistani women are turning to the Internet to grieve, express solidarity and share stories of abuse
  • But using social media comes with its own risks, as trolling, abuse and threats have become an “expected reality” of being vocal online, activists say

RAWALPINDI: As last month’s murder of Noor Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former diplomat, shattered the semblance of freedom and safety many Pakistani women living in secure urban centers like Islamabad feel, activists and social media users say social media is providing women a space to share, grieve and express solidarity, but also opening them up to additional abuse. 
Mukadam was found beheaded in a posh neighborhood of the capital on July 20 in a case that has sparked a public outcry unlike any other in recent memory.
In conservative Pakistani society, with limits on women’s mobility and choices, the Internet can become a “shared meeting space” in the aftermath of grisly events like the Mukadam murder, Nigat Dad, a prominent Pakistani lawyer and digital and women rights activist, told Arab News this week.“For so many women, finding a community online is built around needing to be heard,” Dad said. “Women are able to find community online in Pakistan because they are unable to find community offline in most cases and it’s very hard for women to find such a sisterhood and solidarity as that which exists in digital spaces.”
“Online you have space to talk about things that usually you cannot [in real-life],” Dad added. 

The lack of “inclusive” gathering spaces for women in Pakistan is precisely why Kanwal Ahmed said she founded the Facebook Group Soul Sisters Pakistan in 2013. The private group has nearly 300,000 members now. 
“There are no inclusive spaces for women to meet others, interact or even just catch a breather in Pakistan. It can be isolating to be a woman in this country,” Ahmed told Arab News over the phone. “With rampant gender-based violence, complete lack of resources and a culture that thrives on silencing women, it was and is imperative that we create spaces where we shatter that culture of silence and let women encourage each other to speak up.”
The community Ahmed has helped build gives women a space “to share their stories, their problems and help each other out,” she said.




In this picture taken on August 31, 2020, women discuss as they check out the social online group 'The Soul Sisters Pakistan' on their Facebook page, in Lahore. (AFP/File)

In the wake of Mukadam’s murder, many women are also using social media platforms to speak about their own experiences of abuse and call out alleged harassers.
One such woman is Toronto-based writer Zahra Haider, who was born and raised in Islamabad and personally knew both Mukadam and the man charged with her murder, Zahir Jaffer. Since her friend’s killing, she has used her social media account to post updates about the case as well as share stories of other women.
“I am in a privileged position, and I will use it to combat this ... violence and abuse that is rampant in Pakistan,” Haider said. “Posting on social media can lead to accountability, to some change.”
But using the Internet to speak up comes with its own risks. 
Haider said in the past two weeks, she has faced numerous hacking attempts on her social media accounts, and threats of defamation suits.
Dad also spoke of attacks and harassment, saying it sometimes affected her mental health to the degree that she felt like quitting social media “just for a breather.” 
Dad is not alone. 




In this photograph taken on December 17, 2016, Pakistani lawyer and founder of the Digital Rights Foundation Nighat Dad speaks during an interview with AFP in Lahore. (AFP/File)

In 2020, the helpline at the Digital Rights Foundation advocacy group, which Dad founded in 2012 with a focus on protecting women online, recorded a total of 3,298 cases of cybercrime, 66 percent of them against women. In 2021, it recorded 2,082 cases between January to June, a majority by women.
Women face online threats globally, but the risk is enhanced in countries like Pakistan where there is a tradition of men killing women over perceived injury to a family’s honor. In 2012, in one of the first cases of honor killing linked to digital technology, a video of a private gathering was leaked showing four women dancing in the presence of three men in Kohistan. All the individuals shown in the video were murdered by their families in the name of honor. 
In 2016, social media star Qandeel Baloch was strangled by her own brother for posting so-called risque videos on the Internet. 
The same year, Pakistan’s parliament passed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), which officials say aims to restrict online extremist content, prosecute hate speech, and curb harassment of women on the Internet. Rights groups say it has not made the Internet safer for women.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s cybercrime wing registered 8,500 complaints of women facing online harassment in 2018 and 2019. Agency officials told a parliamentary committee that blackmailing and harassment over social media were the most common complaints and that only 19.5 percent of the complaints were investigated, according to Human Rights Watch.
The FIA and the ministries of information and IT did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this piece.
Meanwhile, trolling, abuse and threats have become an “expected reality” of being a vocal Pakistani woman on the Internet, Rabeeya Latif, an advocate for more inclusive, “non-judgmental” online spaces for women, said. 
“I’ve gotten all sorts of threats,” she said, listing murder and sexual violence among them. 
“It’s so sad that that’s what I had to deal with for doing the work that I do, but I deal with the trauma and abuse,” Latif said. “I just realized how much this country needs us and how I need to move forward to help other women because if I were to back down — well there is no way I am letting them win.”
“Yes, as women find community online,” Dad said, “they also face a myriad of unfair troubles.”


Pakistan’s deputy PM discusses trans-Afghan railway with Uzbek foreign minister

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Pakistan’s deputy PM discusses trans-Afghan railway with Uzbek foreign minister

  • Envisioned in 2021, the project is expected to improve trade relations among all three countries
  • Ishaq Dar discusses the modalities for early finalization of the project’s framework agreement

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar held a phone call with his Uzbek counterpart on Saturday to discuss steps toward advancing the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) railway project, including the framework agreement and its signing mechanism, said the foreign office.

The UAP railway is a trilateral initiative aimed at enhancing regional connectivity by linking Central Asia with Pakistan’s southern ports of Gwadar and Karachi through Afghanistan.

Envisioned in 2021, the project is expected to improve trade access for landlocked countries and bolster economic integration in the region.

“Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, held a telephone conversation today with Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister, Saidov Bakhtiyor Odilovich @FM_Saidov,” the foreign office said in a social media post on X.

“They discussed the modalities for early finalization of the framework agreement for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway Line Project, including details of its signing ceremony in consultation with leadership of Afghanistan,” it added.

The conversation came a day after Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to upgrade diplomatic relations, with Islamabad announcing it would elevate its chargé d’affaires in Kabul to ambassadorial rank. Kabul said it would reciprocate the move.

Ties between the two countries have been tense in recent years, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan’s Taliban administration of harboring militants involved in cross-border attacks, leading to a deportation drive against undocumented Afghan nationals.

The Taliban have denied facilitating any violence inside Pakistan and criticized the deportations.

Efforts to ease tensions between the two neighboring countries also gained momentum in recent months. During a trilateral meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing, Pakistan and Afghanistan announced plans to exchange ambassadors.

Afghan authorities have also said Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is due to visit Pakistan “in the coming days.”

The UAP railway, first agreed in February 2021, envisions a 573-kilometer track linking Tashkent to Peshawar via Kabul, with an estimated cost of $4.8 billion.

The project faces significant logistical challenges, including security concerns in Afghanistan and the need to reconcile different railway gauges across the three countries.

However, Pakistan has already sent agricultural consignments to Uzbekistan last year. 

Implementation of the UAP railway is expected to further deepen trade ties among the three nations.


Pakistan concludes pre-Hajj flight operation with over 115,000 pilgrims flown to Saudi Arabia

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Pakistan concludes pre-Hajj flight operation with over 115,000 pilgrims flown to Saudi Arabia

  • The country launches special Hajj flight operation each year to assist pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia
  • The operation involves multiple airlines and serves pilgrims under both government and private schemes

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has successfully concluded its 33-day pre-Hajj flight operation, with more than 115,000 pilgrims transported to Saudi Arabia ahead of this year’s pilgrimage, the state media reported on Saturday.

The country arranges special Hajj flights annually to facilitate thousands of Pakistani Muslims traveling to the Kingdom for the pilgrimage. The operation involves both government and private schemes, as well as coordination with multiple airlines to ensure smooth transit.

The final flight, PK-759 from Karachi, carrying 307 pilgrims, landed in Jeddah at 6:55 PM local time, the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency said.

“Under the Government Hajj Scheme, as many as 88,260 intending pilgrims arrived in Saudi Arabia via 342 flights from various cities of Pakistan,” APP quoted the religious affairs ministry spokesperson, Muhammad Umar Butt, as saying.

“Similarly, over 27,000 [pilgrims] arrived in the holy land under the Private Hajj Scheme,” he added.

The Hajj flights were operated by a range of air carriers including Pakistan International Airlines, Saudi Airlines, SereneAir, Airblue and AirSial.

The spokesperson said to support the pilgrims during the five key days of Hajj, the ministry has deployed approximately 470 coordinators, with each assigned to a group of 188 to 200 pilgrims.

Each coordinator will remain with their designated group throughout the pilgrimage, helping its members during the journey from Mina to Arafat, Muzdalifah, Jamarat and back to Makkah.

This year, Hajj rituals will commence on June 4, with the Day of Arafah on June 5, and Eid Al-Adha observed on June 6 in Saudi Arabia.


Pakistan says 96% of children vaccinated in ongoing anti-polio drive

Updated 31 May 2025
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Pakistan says 96% of children vaccinated in ongoing anti-polio drive

  • Pakistan launched the campaign after 74 children were diagnosed with polio last year
  • Balochistan offered swings and camel rides in Quetta to draw children for vaccination

KARACHI: Polio vaccinations continued across Pakistan for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday, with 96% of targeted children receiving doses during the first five days of the campaign, the country’s National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said in a statement.

Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic, alongside neighboring Afghanistan.

Efforts to eliminate the disease have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on polio workers by militant groups.

In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted during these campaigns.

“During the first five days, 96% of children across the country have been administered polio drops,” the NEOC said at the start of the campaign’s sixth day.

“The vaccination campaign is underway simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” it continued, adding this was to curb cross-border transmission of the virus, especially in frontier regions where mobility between the two countries remains high.

According to Pakistani officials, the current vaccination drive aims to reach more than 45 million children nationwide. It is part of Pakistan’s intensified response following a sharp uptick in cases last year, when 74 children were diagnosed with the crippling virus.

Ten cases have been reported so far in 2025, prompting authorities to step up outreach and door-to-door campaigns.

According to the NEOC, provincial breakdowns so far show 97% coverage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 96% in both Punjab and Balochistan, 94% in Sindh, 98% in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 101% in Gilgit-Baltistan, where more children were reached than initially estimated.

Islamabad reported 97% coverage.

In Balochistan, the country’s most underdeveloped province that reported 27 cases last year, local authorities introduced recreational activities such as free swings and camel rides in Quetta to attract children and facilitate their vaccination.

The effort drew large crowds, allowing teams to immunize children while they took part in the festivities.

“This initiative is critically important as we enter the high-transmission season,” said Ziaur Rehman, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Polio Program. “It will play a key role in timely containment of the virus.”

He urged parents to ensure that all children under five receive polio drops to protect them from lifelong disability.


PM Sharif announces 25% federal development share for insurgency-hit Balochistan

Updated 31 May 2025
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PM Sharif announces 25% federal development share for insurgency-hit Balochistan

  • The prime minister calls for efforts to bring back ‘misguided’ individuals who have joined militant groups
  • He recognizes Balochistan’s history of economic deprivations but says ‘terrorists’ know nothing but brutality

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan will receive 25% share from the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in the upcoming budget, as the government continues to grapple with a decades-long separatist insurgency that has surged in recent years.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, is strategically significant as the centerpiece of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major infrastructure development and regional connectivity initiative linking western China to the Arabian Sea.

While the state touts CPEC as a game-changer for the region’s development, Baloch separatist groups accuse the government of exploiting the province’s vast mineral resources without benefiting the local population. Officials reject the narrative, pointing to ongoing investments in various sectors aimed at improving livelihoods.

Sharif announced the allocation while addressing a grand jirga, an assembly of provincial elders and influential figures alongside top military leadership, in Quetta, where he reaffirmed the government’s commitment to Balochistan’s development.

“I think that PSDP will be of Rs1,000 billion [in the next budget],” he told the gathering. “So, out of this [amount], a fund of approximately Rs250 billion is for Balochistan alone. That is, 25% of the total federal PSDP for Balochistan.”

The PSDP is Pakistan’s central development program used to fund infrastructure, energy, education and other long-term public investment projects across the country.

It includes both federal initiatives and financial support for provincial projects, particularly in underdeveloped regions like Balochistan.

The prime minister said the allocation was the province’s “right.”

“Along with this,” he continued, “these resources should be used transparently, whether it is Gwadar, whether it is Pasni, whether it is Chaman, whether it is Killa Saifullah, whether it is Quetta, whether it is Jhal Magsi or any other areas,” he continued. “Every single penny there should be used honestly for the development and prosperity of the people.”

Addressing the challenge of militancy in the province, Sharif said efforts must continue to bring back “misguided” individuals who had joined militant groups.

He acknowledged Balochistan’s history of economic deprivation, while reiterating that those engaged in violence offer no solutions.

“Terrorists do not know anything but brutality,” he said.

Calling for national unity, Sharif maintained: “Let’s sit together and talk. It is only by sitting together that a family becomes strong and prosperous. No evil eye can harm a united household.”


Pakistan to set up maritime chamber to boost blue economy, promote greener ports

Updated 31 May 2025
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Pakistan to set up maritime chamber to boost blue economy, promote greener ports

  • Maritime minister says new chamber will unite industry to drive sustainable growth and long-term economic resilience
  • Pakistan aims to grow its blue economy through sustainable use of ocean resources for jobs and ecosystem health

KARACHI: The Pakistan government on Saturday announced the creation of a new Maritime Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) to promote sustainable development in the country’s coastal and marine sectors, saying the initiative would help strengthen the country’s blue economy while addressing rising climate risks at its ports.

Addressing the Pakistan Business Council Forum, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Junaid Anwar Chaudhry said Pakistan’s coastal zones were increasingly exposed to environmental challenges such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events and marine degradation.

The new chamber, he noted, would serve as a specialized platform for uniting stakeholders from across the maritime spectrum to pursue greener policies and long-term economic resilience.

“This chamber will not only support investment and innovation in the maritime sector but also prioritize sustainability at ports, promote green technologies and foster carbon reduction strategies,” he told the participants of the forum.

Pakistan is striving to strengthen blue economy by ensuring the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, jobs and ecosystem health.

This requires the authorities to enhance the potential of its ports, fisheries, logistics and marine services while reducing environmental harm.

The new chamber is expected to provide a unified institutional voice for sectors ranging from shipping to coastal tourism, helping to align business incentives with climate adaptation goals.

Pakistan has been pushing to modernize its port infrastructure and expand its role in regional trade by improving cargo handling, digitalizing port operations and encouraging public-private partnerships.

The country has also invited landlocked Central Asian states to use its ports to access global markets, aiming to position itself as a regional trade hub.

The Pakistan Business Council welcomed the announcement, calling the new chamber a critical step toward building a climate-resilient and economically vibrant maritime economy.