Pakistan’s women journalists are facing a wide array of threats, says writer

"Many journalists are charged with the offence of maintaining 'anti-state' rhetoric and provoking the public against the military and elected officials," writer Mehmil Khalid said in her opinion piece published in The Pakistan Daily.

"Rights activists, especially those championing free speech, maintain that strong and free media is sine qua non for good governance and upholding the democratic values in a state. But, in Pakistan, the picture appears to be different. We frequently see a journalist being shot or murdered for exercising their freedom of speech and disseminating their views publicly," the writer wrote.

The writer said the condition of women journalists is even more appalling.

"Women journalists find it extremely difficult to work in Pakistani society due to widespread online abuse, hatred and physical violence," read the opinion piece.

"Women journalists have recently come under fire as a large number of them are now facing threats in the form of rape, physical violence and intimidation in the form of public revealing of their personal data.

"Journalists, citing growing cases of online bullying, say that these can incite violence and result in hate crimes, putting their safety at risk
Experts say that given the poor statistics of gender inequality in Pakistan, women journalists have to go the extra mile within media spheres to earn high authority positions and standard wages as compared to their male counterparts," the opinion piece said.