Saba Chaudhary

Every year, Pakistani women, including students, journalists, feminist activists, and a small number of men, gather in all the major cities of Pakistan for the Aurat March (Women's March). They march for freedom, sing songs about emancipation, and chant slogans supporting voiceless and marginalized communities. Women from varying socioeconomic backgrounds take to the streets, demanding an end to honor killings, workplace harassment, acid attacks, and domestic violence, among other issues. The...

Despite the popularity of the Women's March in Pakistan, the day is usually marked by negative comments, hate speech and backlash from the media.
March 8 marks International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on that day in almost every region in the world. For Pakistan, International Women’s Day started being celebrated only five years ago with the name ‘Aurat March’. The importance of Aurat March for a country like Pakistan is significant, as the country currently ranks 153rd in the global ge...

akistan set its sights on having at least 30 percent of its 230 million people fully vaccinated by the end of 2021. As the year drew to a close, it seemed like it would achieve this target. Chances are, however, the majority of the Pakistanis who have had their complete COVID-19 shots so far are men.
As late as Sept. 30, 2021, only 37 percent of the Pakistanis who had been fully vaccinated were women. Only 38 percent of those who just had their first shot were women. Most of the women who are...

In October 2020, the Pakistan government decided to block TikTok for immoral and indecent content. Just a month prior, it announced it was blocking access to multiple dating apps, including Tinder and Grindr, also in a bid to restrict “immoral and indecent” content.
These moves faced backlash. Journalist Amber Rahim Shamsi called it “a moral policing spree,” asking if streaming sites were next. Activist and columnist Usama Khilji pointed out to Dawn that the government would be able to use le...

@SaBa_Ch
Online abuse affects journalists in myriad ways. In the absence of digital safety and inequality, a lot of journalists face threats, harassment, and hate. Despite becoming victims of polarized debates, and receiving unpleasant and intimidating comments, journalists are pushing the boundaries.
Facebook’s recent scandal and its failure to regulate hate content is telling of the impact it has to diversity online. Although, tech companies are to blame for unregulated hate, governments ar...

By Saba Chaudhary

he United Nations has warned that Afghanistan may produce some half a million more refugees by the end of this year, but desperate Afghans heading toward Pakistan will find that their country’s next-door neighbor had long rolled up the welcome mat.

Indeed, it has come to a point that even working with refugees in Pakistan has become almost a cloak-and-dagger affair. Says social worker Hassan Turi: “The biggest problem working with refugees is that you cannot work with refuge...

Thousands of journalists, activists and members of civil society in Pakistan are protesting to protect the right to freedom, revealing how the government is curbing voices of dissent on social media.
Since Imran Khan's government began, journalists and activists in Pakistan are not only fighting for the freedom of speech but different means are being used to suppress their dissent.
In August, the Pakistan Digital media wing issued a deep analytics report based on the compilation of hashtags t...

On 6 July 2021, a horrifying video of a couple being tortured and harassed caused uproar among Pakistani social media users. The video was shared on Twitter, violating the victim’s privacy via an unknown account. The fear, the pain and helplessness felt by the girl, seen in the room full of men reflects state complicity and the power imbalance men have, allowing them to abuse and threaten women. The incident took place at an apartment in Islamabad owned by a man named Usman Mizra who was the ...

In the South Asian country, patriarchy operates through inequalities, and lack of support from authorities makes it an uphill battle to fight.
n the wee hours of September 9, 2020, a car puttered to a halt along one of the roads connecting Lahore and Gujranwala, two of Pakistan’s metropolitan cities. The gas had run out. Its driver, a woman, called her relatives in Gujranwala, and soon, someone drove out to pick her up.
But when the relative finally made it, he found her bloodied and afraid, ...

No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you.
Wisdom is delightful. Imaginations open the door to possibilities. Self-awareness, healing,composition, dance, and music silage our weary souls. Writing stimulates transformation.Women leaders play a crucial role in the progress of society, but sadly, in our country,women are underrepresented in decision-making avenues, where male-dominance tends tocontinue. Pakistani women are still expected to stay home o...

Digital Rights Foundation is a research-based advocacy organisation, focusing on ICTs to support human rights, democratic process and digital governance. We envision a world where all people, especially women, are able to exercise their right to expression without being threatened.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of our oganisation or its members. Videos added in the magazine have been provided by the co...