Pakistani journalists particularly female reporters erupted in a furor after they were denied entry inside the Azaadi march of JUI-F in Islamabad. Prominent TV anchor Shiffa Yousafzai and another reporter Annie recorded their protest on social media after they were forced out from the Azaadi march and mistreated by the protestors.
While giving the intro a man came and started saying women are not allowed, women cannot be here, leave, slowly, but in a minute’s time a crowd of men encircled the ladies and started chanting the slogans, they had to leave but they kept coming after the female reporters in huge crowds making sure that they leave,
While recording a video for the program she was interrupted by a man who shouted at her forcing her to leave the ground, soon she was surrounded by a group of men, who followed her until she left the premises. The marchers warned her that they have placed strict permission on the participation of women in the rally in any form. Hence, there were no female protesters alongside men.
What we saw today there at #Azadi_March being encircled by the mob, their reactions, the slogans they chanted against me (women) were pretty ugly… pic.twitter.com/D8w7E5bfKr
— Shiffa Z. Yousafzai (@Shiffa_ZY) November 1, 2019
She informed that not only they chanted anti-women slogans but also hurled slogans against the current prime minister Imran Khan and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. A video posted by Shiffa Yousafzai showed the personnel of banned militia ‘Ansar-ul-Islam’ were baton charging the motorcycle riders to clear the area.
Notably, political parties are also criticizing JUIF’s treatment with female reporters.
Following the chaos, it is reported that JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi had announced the entry of women in the Azaadi March.
Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri announced from Azadi March stage that women journalists should not be stopped from covering the march and treat all women with respect no ban on entry of women in dharna
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) November 1, 2019
Prominent female journalists including Nasim Zehra, Asma Shirazi protested against the restriction placed on female journalists by JUI-F. Former PPP leader Sharmila Farooqi also condemned the incident.
Earlier, a female journalist from Karachi had penned down a similar experience which she confronted during the coverage of Azaadi March in Karachi. The journalist, herself, penned down her experience of being barred multiple times from media coverage of the rally in Karachi-the starting destination of the Azaadi march.
I have been covering politics for some time now, but never in my journalistic career have I been barred from covering an event. I went to cover JUI #AzaadiMarch earlier this morning. JUI security personnel asked me to leave because I was a woman. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/BPa96tlpES
— Annie (@aaminsann) November 1, 2019
