The sisters were shot dead last week in Pakistan's remote North Waziristan, the latest victims of a conservative honour code which has led to hundreds of deaths, including the 2016 strangling of social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother. "The Waziristan killings highlight how the internet can be used against women, especially in a patriarchal society like Pakistan's," said Nighat Dad, a Pakistani lawyer who founded the country's first cyber-harassment helpline. Most of the calls to the Digital Rights Foundation advocacy group, which Dad founded in 2012 with a focus on protecting women online, are about revenge porn - the blackmail of women by ex-partners or boyfriends over online posts of intimate images. It is not just digital rights that Dad advocates for. "I want young women who have aspirations and are motivated to be able to pursue their dreams," she said.

Source: bd News24 May 21, 2020 13:30 UTC