Sept 14, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur’s recent offensive remarks against a senior female broadcast journalist add to a troubling pattern of attacks on female media practitioners in Pakistan. On September 12, during an address at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Peshawar, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur made a controversial accusation against journalist Gharidah Farooqi, alleging that she accepts payments to influence political narratives through her reporting.
“His remarks are a crime against women journalists,” said Gharidah Farooqi, the latest target of CM KP’s attacks.
She was reacting to CM KP’s remarks, in which he said, “I was watching a news show where [host] Gharidah Farooqi was pressing one of our party leaders to name journalists who accept money. It’s you, Gharidah Farooqi, I am naming you,” Gandapur said before an audience of lawyers, bar council representatives, ministers, and parliamentarians.
This is not the first time Gandapur has targeted female media practitioners, especially those critical of the PTI. During a heated speech at a public gathering in Islamabad on September 8, he launched an outburst against them and used sexual slurs.
Speaking with Voicepk.net, Gharidah Farooqi, host of the current affairs show G for Gharidah on GTV, said that Gandapur’s attack has come after she questioned the PTI leaders about “his unfounded claims that journalists were fabricating biased narratives for financial gain”.
“I have been insistent in my shows and on my social media accounts to hold the KP chief minister accountable for accusing and naming female journalists,” she said.
She said Gandapur’s comments have made her vulnerable to all kinds of attacks, not just in the digital sphere but also in real life.
She added that CM KP’s public remarks are not only unfortunate but also pose a dangerous threat to women journalists working in the country – “They jeopardise the security and safety of female journalists, especially when he names them.”
Farooqi said that she has faced online harassment and trolling since 2014, with the hate campaign intensifying after the PTI came to power in 2018. “Imran Khan would mention my name and direct his party officials and social media teams to launch campaigns against me,” she said.
She has lodged complaints with the Federal Investigation Agency regarding trolling and online harassment, but the agency has yet to prosecute the perpetrators.
PFUJ to launch defamation case
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) also strongly condemned Chief Minister Gandapur’s diatribe against Farooqi. Liaqat Ansari, secretary general of PFUJ, told VOicepk.net that they would initiate a defamation case against him if a public apology is not issued. “The PFUJ will support Farooqi if she decides to file a defamation case in court,” he told Voicepk.net.
Ansari said Gandapur’s statement has eventually proved that it was the PTI that has been conducting the decade-long online harassment and trolling faced by Farooqi. “Previously, PTI leaders denied any involvement in the trolling campaign against Farooqi, but by specifically naming her, Gandapur has clearly indicated that his party was behind it.”