Joint statement: Attacks on women in media in Pakistan
Vicious attacks through social media are being directed at women journalists and commentators in Pakistan, making it incredibly difficult for us to carry out our professional duties.
The target of these attacks are women with differing viewpoints and those whose reports have been critical of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s government, and more specifically its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The online attacks are instigated by government officials and then amplified by a large number of Twitter accounts, which declare their affiliation to the ruling party.
In what is certainly a well-defined and coordinated campaign, personal details of women journalists and analysts have been made public. To further discredit, frighten and intimidate us, we are referred to as peddlers of “fake news”, “enemy of the people” and accused of taking bribes (often termed as "paid" journalists or lifafas).
In some instances, our pictures and videos have also been morphed.
Women in the media are not only targeted for their work, but also their gender. Our social media timelines are then barraged with gender-based slurs, threats of sexual and physical violence. These have the potential to incite violence and lead to hate crimes, putting our physical safety at risk.
Lately, there have also been attempts to hack into the social media accounts of reporters and analysts, as well as limit our access to information. In some cases, journalists have been locked out of their social media accounts as a result of hacking attempts.
Women in the media, especially those on social media platforms, are finding it increasingly difficult to remain on these platforms and engage freely. Many now self-censor, refrain from sharing information, giving their opinion or actively engaging online.
These sustained attacks undermine public trust in journalism and go against the basic tenets of democracy. It is a public right to access accurate and reliable information, especially during a public health emergency.
We are being prevented from exercising our right to free speech and participate in public discourse. When we self-censor, others are prevented from receiving information to form their views, which is a violation of their rights under Article 19-A.
When attacks and threats are made against us, we do not enjoy the protection of the law as guaranteed under Article 4, and this is the direct result of the actions of those who hold positions in government and are affiliated with the PTI.
Last July, Shireen Mazari, the minister for human rights, promised to take notice of threats against journalists and to address the climate of abuse, bullying, fear and censorship. Ms. Mazari, we are waiting.
We demand that the government:
1) Immediately restrain its members from repeatedly targeting women in the media
2) Send out a clear message to all party members, supporters and followers, to desist from launching these attacks, whether directly or indirectly
3) Hold all such individuals within the government accountable and take action against them
We also call upon the Standing Committees on Human Rights of the upper and lower house of parliament to take notice and hold the government accountable by ensuring they acknowledge, apologize and list the actions they will now take to put an end to such a threatening environment.
Dated: 23 August 2020
Signed by:
Mehmal Sarfraz
Benazir Shah
Amber Shamsi
Zebunnisa Burki
Ramsha Jahangir
Asma Shirazi
Ayesha Bakhsh
Gharidah Farooqi
Aleena Farooq Sheikh
Coalition For Women in Journalism
Kamila Hyat
Rabia Mehmood
Reem Khurshid
Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman
Marium Chaudhry
Nosheen Abbas
The International Coalition for Women in Journalism
Women’s Action Forum files Right To Information requests seeking disclosure of assets by the higher judiciary and senior officers of the Defense Forces of Pakistan - 12 August 2020
Aug 12, 2020: Members of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) and other public spirited citizens have exercised their democratic, legal and constitutional Right to Information (RTI) as enshrined under Article 19-A of the Constitution of Pakistan, and requested the disclosure of information for the following public officers: Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court; Chief Justices and judges of the Lahore High Court, Sindh High Court, Balochistan High Court, Peshawar High Court and Islamabad High Court; Chief of Army Staff and all Lt Generals, Major Generals and Brigadiers of the armed forces; Air Chief Marshal, Air Marshals, Air Vice Marshals, and Commodores of the Airforce; and Admiral, Vice Admiral, Rear Admirals, and Commodores of the Navy.
WAF has asked for the disclosure of:
Their income and assets and the income and assets of their spouses and children
Their perks and privileges
Their Pension and postretirement benefits
Income Tax paid by them during the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20
Plots allotted in any scheme administered by the government or a state owned or controlled statutory body, foundation, company or agency received by them during the last five years
The RTI requests have been filed under the Federal and Provincial RTI laws, addressed to public information officers, registrars and Chief Justices of the respective HCs and SC, and secretary law division and defense. WAF and pro-democracy citizens have requested this information in the public and national interest of Pakistan, and it is our duty as citizens to do so. We have filed these RTIs because this is the first lawful avenue available to us after which we will pursue further legal recourse, if needed.
On 19.06.2020, the Honourable Supreme Court, through short order in CP No. 17/2019 Justice Qazi Faez Isa v Federation of Pakistan, has effectively declared that financial matters of judges, their spouse and children (dependent or otherwise) are matters of public importance. Although, this order has caused some concern within the legal community and civil society, since this is now the legal standard that the SC itself has set, we think this is a very opportune time to extend the principle of pecuniary transparency to all senior state officials without discrimination. WAF believes the requirement of declaring joint assets should not be restricted to elected Parliamentarians or one judge only, but must be applied across the board to all senior public officials across state offices.
People’s interests lie in safeguarding the Constitution, the fundamental and equal rights of all citizens and the separation of state powers. All principles, rights and rewards must be legally specified and applied and awarded in a transparent manner as acceptable to the citizenry of Pakistan. In order to ensure that justice prevails and history bears testament to state accountability, no head or senior officials of state institutions should be exempted from such inquiry and the information we seek must be fully accurate, freely available and not withheld under any pretext.
Under the federal law, information must be provided within 10 days of receipt of request. Under the respective provincial laws, 21 in Balochistan, 15 days in Sindh, 14 days in Punjab, and 10 days in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Public and national interest require that this information be disclosed to affirm public faith in state institutions so the citizenry has reason to believe that the accountability agenda in today’s Pakistan is not selective, and that a uniform standard exists and is applicable to all, without fear or favour.
Signed:
Women’s Action Forum
The Women’s Action Forum was founded in 1981, as a pressure group to struggle against dictatorship and religious discrimination, and for the restoration of the democracy and to promote the rights of women, minorities and the poor. WAF is a secular organisation that believes that women's rights are human rights, and that all citizens must receive the same rights, dignity and equality, regardless of class, creed, sect, ethnicity, and faith. WAF has held a firm belief and commitment to the separation of state powers and for the military and religion to remain firmly out of politics and governance. WAF has chapters in all provinces of Pakistan.
Civil Society Condemns Farogh Nasim’s Misogyny during SCP case hearing - 14 June 2020
We, members of women’s human rights platforms, cultural groups, youth activists, legal community, academicians, litterateurs, and civil society activists are outraged by, and strongly condemn the highly derogatory, inflammatory, unconstitutional, and openly sexist, misogynist remarks made on 12 June 2020, by Mr. Farogh Nasim, the Government Counsel, during a hearing of the Government’s reference filed against Hon. Justice Qazi Faez Isa in the Hon. SCP.
As reported in the mainstream print and electronic media, when the Hon. Bench asked Mr. Nasim to explain under which law the Hon. Judge was personally obligated to declare assets belonging to his spouse, who is an independent taxpayer, he could not quote any valid Pakistani law or legal obligation, and instead resorted to quoting from the Quran. When the Hon. Bench asked if Mr. Nasim was implying that this eliminates the independent legal status and capacity of women under Pakistani laws, he provided no legal response and did not retract his previous statement.
We strongly condemn Mr. Nasim’s legal and intellectual dishonesty, and his misuse, misappropriation, misrepresentation of the Quranic text and context, falsely attempting to create the illusion of a legal argument where none exists. This case is far too important in the history of Pakistan’s judicature, and the development of its jurisprudence, for it to be perniciously diverted and misguided into insignificance. Mr. Nasim has abused his professional duty to assist the Hon. SCP, but instead is trying to mislead it into assailing and demoting the legal status and capacity of Pakistani women.
The Quranic verse Mr. Nasim quoted, does not eliminate, or even limit, women's legal independence regarding their personal financial matters. All schools of Islamic law are unanimous in their assertion that women have the legal capacity to deal with their own financial and property matters independently.
In his classical work titled “Muhammadan Law” (Volume-2), the renowned learned scholar, jurist and authority on Muslim Law, Mr. Justice Syed Ameer Ali, for the purpose of Islamic jurisprudence in our Subcontinent, explicated that marriage is essentially a contract between two parties, and does not automatically give the parties the right to each other’s property; that the legal capacity of the wife is not subsumed under that of her husband; and that the wife retains full power to use and dispose of her property at her discretion, even to the extent of entering into contracts without her husband’s consent or permission. He clarified that she is not under her husband’s legal guardianship, and may even sue him.
No legal practitioner, much less an advocate of the Hon. Supreme Court acting on behalf of the Government, could possibly be ignorant of the above rights – well established in Fiqh and protected by the Constitution of Pakistan and the laws operating under it. Furthermore, Mr. Nasim appears to have forgotten that non-Muslim women are also equal Pakistani citizens, with Constitutional and legal rights. Thus, his crude attempt to mislead the Court with such Machiavellian exploitation of religion in a purely legal case, is a coldly calculated, deliberate attempt to muddy the waters and to divert the Court towards a dangerous direction in the current milieu in Pakistan.
We demand that at the next SCP hearing, Mr. Farogh Nasim must publicly acknowledge, apologise for, and retract his dishonest, fallacious arguments; as well as publicly reaffirming, in open Court, his recognition and acknowledgement of the legal, Constitutional status and capacity of adult married Pakistani women to deal with their financial and property matters independently of their spouse.
WAF Stands in Solidarity with Dr Arfana Mallah - 10 June 2020
June 10, 2020: Women's Action Forum (WAF) condemns the threat to lodge an FIR against Dr Arfana Mallah, a member of WAF, an academic and activist, by Rashid Mahmood Soomro of the JUI, who issued instructions to JUI secretary Sindh, Taj Mohammed, to proceed against her. Allegations levelled against her amount to incitement and pose a danger to Dr Mallah's safety.
She has routinely been targeted by this group in the past in an attempt to suppress her voice and activism. We demand that the police thwart such nefarious attempts and that this situation is handled in a timely and lawful manner before any damage is caused.
The blatant attempt to persecute human rights activists for their committed work for the poor and marginalized people of Sindh must end. Laws are meant to protect citizens against abuse not to be abused as tools of blackmail. The procedure of filing such capricious cases under allegations of blasphemy must be reformed immediately to prevent injustices against the innocent and those working for people’s basic rights.
WAF Condemns Assault on Uzma Khan and Denounces Zina Laws and Moral Policing - 30 May 2020
May 30, 2020: The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) condemns the assault on Uzma Khan and her sister which became public knowledge when videos of the incident were wrongfully shared and spread over social media. Since then, as has now become the norm, based on presumptions, public discourse has descended into moral policing, character assassination and slut-shaming, rather than condemnation of the assault and sexualized harassment and threats. Justifications for what motivated this, marital, class or political privilege do not excuse criminal assault. Concerning also are calls for zina charges to be filed.
WAF was founded in 1981 by a group of courageous women across Pakistan who organised a resilient resistance to Zia ul Haq’s military dictatorship. This period damaged the country’s social, legal and political fabric but especially, tore apart any hopes for egalitarian gender relations. The Zina laws under the Hudood Ordinances of 1979 criminalized all pre- and extra-marital sexual relations. Unregulated, these were used as a moral weapon against the poorer classes, especially the thousands of women who were raped, jailed, and persecuted by the state and also exploited by men to crush women’s autonomies and freedoms on campuses, workplaces, courts, police stations, public spaces. The Zina laws were manipulated by family members to prevent women’s independent choice of marital partners. Women were jailed for reporting rape and being unable to prove it. In the case of Safia bibi, who was impregnated as a result of rape, she was convicted and sentenced to lashes.
The reform of the Zina laws in 2006 under the Women’s Protection Act separated rape from pre- and extra marital sex, mitigating the impunity with which such bodily control was exercised, but the persistence of the law in the Pakistan Penal Code still criminalises pre- and extra-marital sexual relations.
WAF has been dealing with the horrific expanse of sex crime cases for nearly 40 years and while some high-profile ones draw outrage and moralistic preaching by observers, and tend to be amplified earlier by the media and now on social media, we regret that this only feeds the ignorance and narcissism of opportunist men who claim to swoop to the rescue of women victims rather than improving the legal or social justice systems. Encouraged by a now more muted media but otherwise media circus and amplified social media viewing, such willful performances only provide vicarious ‘entertainment’ for viewers. This cynical marketing of women’s experiences benefits those peddlers who masquerade as supporters of women and ply the industries that feed off people’s hurt and trauma. WAF has maintained that instead of sensationalising cases and usurping the victim’s trauma for benefit, due legal process must be followed for all crimes committed – be they abuse, harassment, assault, domestic violence or any bodily harm.
Specifically, on the Zina laws, since 1981 WAF has openly demanded for the repeal of the Hudood Ordinances, Blasphemy laws and all those passed under the anti-democratic military dictatorship of Zia ul Haq. It is not the business of the state to dictate personal choices of the people or impose any laws that proscribe their choices in personal relationships, marriage or lifestyles, wardrobe, choice of religion or method of worship, or where citizens wish to reside or how they wish to communicate or what they want to consume. Instead, the state should focus on upgrading its outdated family laws to include joint ownership of assets at the time of marriage and specify a clear formula for maintenance and equality in child custody in case of divorce. Matters of ‘infidelity’ should be of no concern to anyone except the parties involved.
Pakistan ranks as one of the most unequal countries with some of the highest number of cases for sex crimes against women, for illiteratacy and unvaccinated children, and unequal rights for religious minorities. It ranks lowest on development, education and other progressive indices, freedoms or human rights. It is time to address these through tangible means instead of indulging in moral outrage or preaching.
WAF Demands a Reconstituted National Commission for Minorities - 11 May 2020
May 11, 2020: WAF (Karachi) rejects the willful and arbitrary process by which the Cabinet has formed the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). Such unilateral decisions undermine parliamentary process and weaken democratic consensus without serving the purpose of protecting minorities. By ignoring and sidelining the recommendations of the Suddle Commission - a body mandated in the landmark and progressive judgement by Justice Tassaduq Jillani (2014) - the government reveals its contempt for court decisions and disinclination towards a fair and inclusive process and indeed, adhering to the Paris Principles (1992) as noted in the Jillani judgement.
All this has been made worse by some PTI leaders who have lately been spouting hateful narratives against some religious communities in mainstream media. Such dangerous games of identity politics are what encourage extremism in Pakistan and have led to mass-murderous results. The PTI leadership must hold its members to account for their repeated bullying and malafide statements that make minorities even more vulnerable than they already are.
Other than the high-handed process, the Women’s Action Forum feels it is a travesty that nearly half the members of this Commission for Minorities comprises of members from the majoritarian Muslim community! The commission must clearly and predominantly comprise of members representing declared and undeclared religious minorities. There is absolutely no justification for including the Chairperson of the Council of Islamic Ideology. Instead, the lapsed positions for chairpersons of the National Commissions on Human Rights and Status of Women should be immediately appointed and they may be
members of the Commission on Minorities. Further, the line ministry for this commission must be the Ministry of Human Rights and not, Religious Affairs. The selected members must be cross-party representatives rather than just from the ruling party.
WAF concurs with other human rights groups and Parliamentarians who have also expressed their strong reservations on the formation of the NCM. By functioning merely as a department beholden to the government, with over-representation of the majoritarian community, it will fail abysmally in protecting or advocating the rights of minorities. WAF fears that the present National Commission for Minorities lacks power, resources or autonomy; it will be unable to safeguard or protect the rights of minorities, which have already been trampled on in these last few decades.
A new Commission must be formed as a statutory body and in light of the inclusive recommendations prepared by the Suddle Commission with a wide range of minorities’ representation. The newly formulated commission must be passed by Parliament after consensus so that fairness and ownership is ensured.
Open Letter to Dr Sania Nishtar, Special Advisor to PM for Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation on the Emergency Cash Social Protection Response to the CoronaVirus Pandemic – 12th April 2020
Recommendations for Gender-Sensitive Relief Efforts Under COVID-19 - 03 April 2020
April 3, 2020: Just over the last decade, Pakistan has suffered unprecedented large-scale natural disasters including, earthquakes and floods, and ten years of military conflict under the War on Terror (2004-2014). These have taken multiple human lives on a horrific scale, wiped out their resources and extracted an overall environmental and economic toll. Through experience of working in relief and rehabilitation efforts, the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) has flagged to our governments, how women and marginalized groups suffer the worst effects of crises but also, are deprived of relief and compensation projects simply because of their unequal or direct access to knowledge, power or patronage of the state and government programmes.
WAF has consistently maintained that the impact of humanitarian crises is not neutral but in fact, human precarity depends on social and economic positioning based on class, gender, ethnicity, caste, race, age and geographical location. These factors determine people’s vulnerabilities and risks to disasters. Given the crippling impact of the ongoing pandemic created by the spread of the COVID-19, it is critically important for the current government to apply a gendered lens and policies in all relief initiatives.
In light of the various steps underway and more being planned by provincial governments, WAF Karachi urges prioritising women and other vulnerable groups for relief and distribution of resources, as often women and the girl-child are overlooked in the method of relief and resource distribution because of patriarchal biases which render females as less valued and powerless in households and societies at large.
Recommendations:
In previous relief distributions, people with political affiliations tend to be favored for political benefit. This unfairness must be avoided at all costs
Data must be gender sensitive and include all women covering different demographics in all statistics
Women and members of religious minorities must be prioritized in all relief programmes but also encouraged to play roles as leaders in all relief management initiatives (women police, women MPAs, women UCs, Lady Health Workers, Nurses, Community-Based workers, those who work with local NGOs)
Distribution of relief packages and social transfers should be awarded to women in households and the most vulnerable must be prioritized in such efforts including but not limited to, women agricultural workers, women migrants, domestic workers, home-based workers, union council workers, indigenous women, landless women, single-mothers, older women, health and sanitary workers and those with disabilities.
Any women-related social services that can be offered at this time (make-shift or with reduced hours) should be made functional and supply-chain obstacles removed as a priority (shelters, reproductive health services, hostels, Lady Health Workers, Basic/Rural Health Units, Union Councils)
All those working in the public sector must be given adequate personal protective gear that will reduce the risk they face and their duties must be scheduled according to a rotation system that mitigates their exposure (one week duty and the second off). The hygiene and sanitation needs of the female health workforce must not be overlooked, nor cases of harassment, abuse of power and fatigue.
Women’s teams from within the communities should be recruited for monitoring and accountability of all relief programmes
Both internal and external grievance redressal and complaint mechanisms must be prioritised and strengthened in order to maintain transparency, accountability and equity across relief efforts
Women’s Action Forum - Karachi
The Women's Action Forum (WAF) came into being in September 1981, as a pressure group to struggle for women's rights, at a point in time they were being severely compromised. WAF believes that women's rights are human rights, and that all women must receive the same rights, dignity and equality as other citizens: it has struggled consistently to ensure this for all women. WAF also stands with other civil society organisations to ensure gender equality for women and equal rights for all.
WAF Karachi Condemns Police Brutality on Peaceful Protesters - 28 January 2020
Women's Action Forum Karachi condemns the arrest of and police brutality on peaceful protesters at the Islamabad Press Club. WAF Karachi believes that this is an attempt to denying citizens their right to free expression and association. WAF Karachi further believes that colonial laws like sedition are unreasonable restriction on free speech and have no place in a democratic society hence all such laws should be immediately repealed. We demand that all those who have been arrested today at the Islamabad Press Club as a result of police brutality including Federal President of Women’s Democratic Front (WDF) Ismat Shahjahan and members of WDF Maria Malik and Muneeba Hafeez should be immediately released, Sedition FIR against the leader of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) Manzoor Pashteen be quashed and all political prisoners under trial for sedition be released.
On government attempts to curtail freedom of expression, right to information and digital rights; and appropriation of internet and cyberspace.
Islamabad – January 23, 2020
We the public, citizens of Pakistan, the media sector and its practitioners, digital rights advocates, human rights groups, legal fraternity and the broader civil society in general, are alarmed and angry at recent government attempts clearly aimed at curtailing our fundamental rights to free speech and access to information through blatant attempts to restrict our digital rights and hijacking of internet and cyberspace to curb open discourse and online socio-economic freedoms and pluralisms, as well as distorting and limiting the media market.
In particular, the following initiatives, proposals and measures at the start of 2020, and preceding it, taken by the government and the state, among other things, as made public by government authorities, reported by the media and/or unofficial information through reliable sources, are alarming:
· A draft proposal uploaded on its website by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in January titled “Consultation on Regulating the Web TV & Over The Top TV (OTT) Content Services”
· Parallel/alternative draft, regulations not made public but reportedly possessed and distributed to selected authorities by PEMRA and presented before the federal cabinet that reportedly include even more stringent provisions than the ‘public’ version of the draft.
· A draft proposal by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) not formally circulated among the public but shared with parliamentary committees, aiming to establish so-called guidelines to “prevent harm to persons” on the internet but apparently aimed at restricting online freedom of expression and right to information.
A public consultation co-organized by BoloBhi, Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), Freedom Network (FN), Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA) and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) – all independent civil society Pakistani organizations championing the rights of journalists, civil liberties and digital rights of all citizens – and attended by dozens of journalists and media practitioners, digital rights activists, IT industry representatives, internet service providers, human rights groups, women’s rights advocates, lawyers, social media practitioners, and media rights groups, considered in detail all the recent announced and unannounced government measures and official and unofficial drafts.
All the above proposed measures, policies, drafts and proposals were rejected outright with consensus by the participants of the open consultation. The stakeholders and participants agreed that there is no need for the proposed drafts and proposals at all and, therefore, no need to respond to the individual clauses of both the declared and undeclared drafts from PEMRA, PTA and other sources, as they are redundant. Proposing amendments to these drafts would amount to lending legitimacy to their unfair and non-representative, and often malicious, intent and content.
The stakeholders rejected the drafts in their totality as attempts at expanding the PEMRA footprint slyly by usurping and self-according to itself the mandate to regulate the internet with the thinly disguised aim to regulate online content. PEMRA’s legal mandate is to regulate the broadcast industry, not even regulate broadcast content, let alone online content, while any attempts to self-expand its mandate to regulate the internet are dangerous by implication, and downright illegal, which will end up undermining Pakistan’s digital future.
REJECTION RATIONALE
The participants agreed and declared the following:
1. The environment for free speech for the citizens and the media is already heavily curtailed in Pakistan as part of an ongoing process of suppressing civil liberties and engendering a climate of censorship. These newly proposed regulations and measures, through publicized and unpublicized versions of drafts, can and will be used to censor online content and curb freedom of expression and right to information of media practitioners and citizens.
2. These anti-freedom of expression, anti-right to information measures and drafts cannot and should not be instituted through ‘regulations’ by bypassing legislative processes or without direct public-parliament consultations, or in violation of Articles 19 and 19A of the Constitution. Furthermore, the proposed regulations are beyond the statutory mandate of PEMRA and therefore must not be adopted through regulations or notifications alone. This is obvious in the much higher license fee for news and current affairs Web TV channels as compared to other entertainment Web TV platforms in the proposed regulation. The drafts will also disproportionately impact independent content creators due to the proposed onerous licensing requirements.
3. The official and unofficial drafts, including those from PEMRA, are thinly disguised as draconian attempts to discourage new media journalism, including YouTube / website channels being run by Pakistani journalists who have been forced out from mainstream media over the past two years by the authorities to curtail their professional and/or entrepreneurial work, or dozens of entrepreneurial and non-legacy current affairs news and current affairs websites that are filling the gaps in information from legacy media and providing useful local community information. No one should be charged a fee for operating information services online through independent websites.
4. The proposals and the official and unofficial drafts seem to be attempts to indirectly materialize the otherwise rejected idea of Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMRA) – the widely rejected proposal floated by the PTI government in 2019 to serve as a single controlling authority for print, broadcast and online media. This will also amount to overstretching of PEMRA’s jurisdiction beyond its statutory mandate and encroach on the mandate of other regulators.This will also amount to overstretching of PEMRA’s jurisdiction beyond its statutory mandate and encroach on the mandate of other regulators.
5. Through these regulations, PEMRA seems to be proposing to assume/acquire Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA)-type powers for itself, which have already proved controversial (and which themselves require amendments for overreaching mandate in violation of constitutional articles) and a thinly disguised framework to hinder freedom of expression online, as the cases under it against several journalists and citizens prove, and other digital rights.
DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR PAKISTAN
The participants warned the citizens, the netizens, media, information practitioners, the government, the opposition, legislatures, political parties, civil society, rights groups, media regulators of the following consequences if the proposed new measures, proposals and drafts are approved:
Regression of a digital economic future for Pakistan: Net neutrality and easier and cheaper access to the internet is central for a robust digital future of Pakistan. The newly proposed declared and undeclared measures will become a barrier for a broad range of players in not just the information, telecom and internet access business domains but for digital entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems as well as contribute to a widening gap between the digital and non-digital natives.
Decreased freedom of expression, increased censorship and diminished digital rights: Pakistan is already poorly ranked on all key annual global indexes of freedom of expression and digital rights, including those of Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), Freedom House (FH) and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The newly proposed declared and undeclared measures will curb online free speech and digital rights further and bring levels of online censorship on a par with offline censorship and damage democracy.
Circumscribed access to information and weakened pluralisms: Social media access and usage by the citizens of Pakistan is growing as a means of access to information that is now routinely curtailed on mainstream offline media. The newly proposed declared and undeclared measures will not only diminish access to information but also curtail online social discourse and pluralism of information sources that are necessary for Pakistan’s pluralist polity and strengthening human rights and democracy.
The death of creativity, initiative and productivity: Free expression, the arts and visual and performance disciplines are key to a creative twenty-first century digital society. The newly proposed declared and undeclared measures will stifle the arts, strangulate the media, disrupt local community information services, undermine online education and health campaigns, sabotage state-to-citizen digital engagement and outreach, and simply push Pakistan back to the twentieth century.
APPEAL to the PARLIAMENT, the GOVERNMENT and the PRIME MINISTER
The participants and stakeholders made a vociferous appeal to the Parliament, the political parties, the federal and provincial governments and the Prime Minister to prevent any and all attempts from all quarters to sneak into policymaking all such measures as the proposed official and unofficial drafts mentioned above that will hinder Pakistan’s march into a digital future in a globally connected world. They urged an immediate official rejection of the measures and drafts in line with the interests of the citizens of Pakistan.
ENDORSED BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS
AGHS Legal Aid Cell
ASR Resource Centre
Aurat March Karachi
Bolo Bhi
DRF – Digital Rights Foundation
FN – Freedom Network
HRCP – Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
IRADA – Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development
Mangobaaz
Network of Women Journalists for Digital Rights (140 members)
People’s Commission for Minorities Rights
PFUJ – Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists
SAP Pakistan
Women Action Forum – Hyderabad
Women Action Forum – Islamabad
Women Action Forum – Karachi
Women Action Forum – Lahore
Women Democratic Front
ENDORSED BY INDIVIDUALS
Adnan Rehmat – journalist, analyst and media rights activist
Ailia Zehra – NayaDaur
Alveena Sajid – Express News
Ammar Masood – Columnist – AAP Communication
Aneela Ashraf
Anis Haroon – Feminist
Annam Lodhi
Asma Sherazi – Journalist
Badar Alam – journalist, former editor Herald
Gharidah Farooqi – Journalist AAP News
Haroon Rashid – Independent Urdu
Jalila Haider – activist, lawyer
Laiba Zainab – NayaDaur
Maleeha Mengal
Moneeza Jahangir – Journalist
Nadia Malik – Geo News
Najia Ashar – CEO Global Neighbourhood for Media Innovation
Women’s Action Forum looks back on 38 Years of Activism - 15 September 2019
The Women’s Action Forum was founded on 16th September 1981 in Karachi as a pressure group to struggle against dictatorship and religious discrimination and for the rights of women, minorities and marginalised peoples. WAF is a secular and non-hierarchical organisation that believes that women's rights are human rights, and that all citizens must receive the same rights, dignity and equality, regardless of class, creed, sect, ethnicity, and faith. WAF holds to its principled belief and commitment to the separation of state powers and demands that the military and religion remain firmly out of politics and governance. WAF is unique in that it has sister chapters and members in all provinces of Pakistan and after 38 years, continues its activism as a collective with members belonging to all social classes, generations and ethnicities.
WAF has played a pivotal role in placing women’s rights on the national agenda by raising awareness at different levels of society. In the eighties it actively supported the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy and lobbied successfully with political parties to include women in their party manifestoes. It played a major role in the protest against the proposed Islamic Law of Evidence in Lahore on 12th of February 1983, the first public protest against Zia’s Islamization The subsequent battle between women protesters and the police in which the women held their ground despite tear gas, injuries and arrests, made national and international news. 12th February was a turning point for WAF, for the women’s movement and the movement for democracy. 12th Feb is now recognized as National Women’s Day.
In 1992 WAF took a stand against the Blasphemy Law and the mandatory death sentence predicting that it would be used/abused for personal reasons and personal vendettas against people. WAF’s apology to the women of Bangladesh in 1996, position on crimes against humanity and crimes against women in times of war and conflicts and retroactive responsibility was a forerunner to the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women peace and security passed in 2000. WAF’s historic political experiences include the re-writing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from a feminist, decolonizing perspective in 1995, to filing a judicial reference against the former Chief Justice for violating article 209 of the Judges’ Code of Conduct, in 2018.
As a non-funded lobby pressure group, WAF has struggled against discriminatory laws, violence against women and minorities, all informal legal systems, urban mafias and land grabbers. Its campaign over many years for the repeal of the unjust Hudood Ordinance was instrumental in providing protection to women and the passage of Women’s Protection Bill. WAF has stood against militancy, wars, sexual harassment, constitutional abrogation, privatization, bigotry, enforced disappearances and military or judicial adventurism. At the worst of times and bleakest of moments, WAF has often been the first to break the silence imposed by oppressive forces.
Today, when the middle classes and the poor have been left at the mercy of rapacious market forces WAF reiterates its support to movements against the Capitalist exploitation of labour and stands in solidarity with trade unionists. WAF calls for civilian supremacy, provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment, land reforms, pro-women legislation, and the rights of the transgender and LGBT communities, as well as for peace with our regional neighbours. We believe the anti-poor evictions taking place in Karachi and the ICT under the inhumane neoliberal policies of this government will deepen existing inequalities of resources and opportunity and accelerate lethal damage to our already precarious ecosystems.
WAF is deeply dismayed at the prevailing backlash under the current government led by the PTI and which is imposing blatant censorship, persecuting elected representatives, witch-hunts and trials without credible due process, and economic policies dictated by IMF, while citizens are being crushed under the current crippling ineffectual austerity drives. It seems that women’s and human rights do not exist on the political agenda of the current military-led government.
WAF is heartened by younger generations of activists who are joining and continuing the struggles for civilian parliamentary democracy and striving against sexism and bigotry and calls upon all progressive movements of Pakistan to band together and join in a commitment to restore civilian supremacy, ensure freedom of expression and release of political prisoners. We call on the government to restore due process in a transparent and fair manner, reverse anti-poor policies and promote women’s and minorities’ rights as enshrined in the Constitution and to amend discriminatory laws and policies. We call upon all Pakistanis to join the Women’s Action Forum to carry the torch of rights and equality and to light the way for justice, democracy, pluralism and dignity.
66 women’s rights, human rights, digital rights and feminists groups endorse statement on internet blackout in Kashmir
28 August 2019
We, a coalition of 66 women's rights, human rights, digital rights and feminists groups, condemn in the strongest possible terms the blatant violation of the right to freedom of expression, access to information, movement and peaceful assembly by the Indian government through a blanket network and internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir since the evening of August 4, 2019. We believe that access to communication networks, including the internet, is a fundamental human right and the current media blackout is tantamount to silencing the voices of millions of residents in Jammu and Kashmir.
We recognise that the current situation is not an aberration, it is rather part of a systematic effort by the BJP-led government to silence and exclude dissent from the region: the current internet and network shutdown is part of larger pattern of regular shutdowns in the disputed region; in 2019 alone 51 internet shutdowns have been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. The right to access communication networks is an important prerequisite to the exercise to other democratic and fundamental rights, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been systematically denied these rights.
It worries us that the latest shutdown has been expanded to block all communication, landline phones and cable TV in addition to the internet. Since August 4, 2019 there has been a complete media blackout on information inside and outside the conflict-ridden valley, in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which has been ratified by India:
“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”
The humanitarian impact of this blackout is palatable as family members have been unable to reach their loved ones inside Jammu and Kashmir. Freedom of movement has also severely restricted as curfew imposed under section 144 to stop movement during the day. These restrictions have thwarted the access basic services such as emergency medical care--the human cost of this blackout is immeasurable. Businesses in the region have suffered irreparable losses, devastating the local economy. 5,000 arrests have been made in a clampdown since the communications blackout started.
This communication blackout has been instrumentalized to remove a provision (Article 370) of the Indian Constitution that directly impacts the autonomy of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We are extremely concerned that the pairing of the blackout with the passage of the constitutional amendment points towards a dangerous and draconian approach to democratic decision-making--the people of region cannot express their opinions regarding the decision and possibly have no way of knowing that the legal status of their home has drastically changed. We believe that communication networks during times of conflict and political turmoil are important to prevent further human rights violations and arbitrary measures. Given the excesses of the Indian army in the past, the lack of information and reporting from the region is extremely concerning.
We also condemn the uneven application of community guidelines and content regulation by social media companies such as Twitter to silence users critiquing the official narrative of the Modi-led Indian government and amplifying the voices of Kashmiris on the ground. According to estimates, more than 200 Twitter accounts have been suspended for posting about Kashmir. Furthermore notices have been sent to Twitter users for allegedly “violating the laws of India”. At a time when voices of people from the region are being systematically excluded, these suspensions and notices amount to gross negligence on the part of social media companies.
The United Nations has termed this communications blackout as “unprecedented”, “disproportionate” and constituting “collective punishment”. David Kaye, the UN’s special rapporteur on freedom of expression, stated: “I can’t recall a situation where there has been a total blackout of not only the two-way, multi-point communication systems that we are familiar with now – anything on the internet, WhatsApp etc – but also the one-direction communications like TV”.
We urge that urgent and strict action be taken by the international community to address the international law violations. We demand that the blanket ban on communication network be lifted with immediate effect. We stand in solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their legitimate struggle for the right to determination.
Signatories:
Asma Jahangir Legal Aid Cell (AGHS)
ASR Resource Centre
Association for Behavior and Knowledge Transformation (ABKT)
Aurat Foundation
Aurat Haq
Aurat March Karachi
Aurat March Lahore
AwazFoundationPakistan: Centre for Development Services
Baidarie
Balochistan Media Association
Beaconhouse National University Feminist Community
Bolo Bhi, Pakistan
Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF)
Center for Artificial Intelligence
Center for Cyber Security Pakistan
Center for Cyber Security Pakistan
Centre for Social Justice
Channan
Christian Muslim Peace
Combine FiOS
Courting the Law, Pakistan
Damen Support Programme
DCHD
Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), Pakistan
Farmers Development Organization FDO Pakistan
Freedom Network
Girls at Dhabas
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Human Rights Defenders United for Digital Rights
Institute for Peace and Secular Studies
Institute of Research, Advocacy and development (IRADA), Pakistan
Internet Policy Observatory Pakistan
Internet Policy Observatory Pakistan
Joint Action Committee
Khwendo kor
Media Matters for Democracy
Minorities Rights Watch
Network of Women Journalists for Digital Rights
Omar Asghar Khan Foundation
Pakistan Press Foundation
Participatory Welfare Services - PWS
Participatory Welfare Services, Layyah
Peasants women society Pakistan
Quetta City Live
Shirkat Gah - Women’s Resource Centre
Social Action Transformation of Humanity (SATH Pakistan)
South Asia Partnership - Pakistan
SPACE (Sufism for Peace & Co-existence)
Sungi
Takhleeq Foundation
Tehrik-e-Niswan
The Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF)
The SAWERA Foundation
War Against Rape (WAR), Lahore
WISE
Women Action Forum Hyderabad
Women Action Forum Islamabad
Women Action Forum Karachi
Women Action Forum Lahore
Women Democratic Front
Women’s Regional Network
Youth Observatory Pakistan
International Organisations
Afro Leadership Cameroon
Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE)
Freedom Forum Nepal
Internet Sans Frontières
NetBlocks
