Female Lawmaker in Pakistan Accuses Imran Khan of ‘Inappropriate’ Texts. Abuse Follows.
en in general." In a survey of women in 17 Pakistani universities, published by the Digital Rights Foundation in May, 34 percent said they had experienced online harassment and abuse.
that the web is littered with websites, videos and message boards dedicated to objectifying and degrading women parliamentarians in particular and wom
e home, the workplace, in public places, and now it is increasingly manifesting itself in online spaces as well." In another case, Saman, a 19-year-old university student from Lahore who asked to be identified by only her first name to protect her safety, said her sister’s husband had propositioned her for years before spraying her with acid, disfiguring her, in January 2016.
that There is a culture of violence against women that already exists in th
Women around the world face online abuse, but in Pakistan, with its entrenched culture of discrimination
and violence against women, the threats are not idle.
t do anything until the pictures are actually published." Marvi Sirmed, a Pakistani journalist, said people on social media had called for her to be publicly raped
and killed over her views on the rights of women and minorities. that but they say they can’
The case also illustrates the rise of online abuse against women in a country considered one of the most dangerous in the world for women.
On Tuesday, the lawmaker, Ayesha Gulalai Wazir, from Pakistan’s tribal South Waziristan region, accused Mr. Khan of sending her "objectionable" text messages,
and said women were not respected in his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
And in two cases still to be decided, a university professor in the port city of Karachi was arrested on charges of setting up fake Facebook pages
and publishing doctored pictures of a female colleague, and two boys were arrested in 2015 on charges of using a fake Facebook profile to harass and blackmail up to 50 girls in Peshawar.
