Ailia Zehra
The writer is a Pakistani journalist based in New York. She covers politics, human rights, and religious extremism. She tweets at @AiliaZehra.
News
Inside the Ongoing Racial Profiling in Islamabad
Islamabad, Pakistan -- Lawyer Imaan Mazari had just got home after getting journalist Matiullah Jan released from the custody of Islamabad police on Nov. 30 when she received a panicked call from the Street Vendors Association of Islamabad, informing her that several vendors had...
Features
‘Self-Censorship Shapes My New Identity’: Exiled Russian Activist Reflects on Leaving...
Russian President Vladimir Putin's onslaught on dissent intensified after his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series documenting the past and present struggles of exiled Russian dissidents who sought political asylum in the U.S. in recent years. Mikhail...
Features
Pro-Palestine DNC Delegate Assaulted For Disrupting Biden’s Speech Vows To Keep...
A pro-Palestine elected member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from Florida, Nadia Ahmad, was hit in the head repeatedly with vertical signs that read "We love Joe" by a group of DNC guests when she disrupted President Joe Biden’s speech on the first...
Human Rights
Unfazed By Police Violence, Mahrang Baloch Continues To Lead Islamabad Protest...
Mahrang Baloch, the activist leading the ongoing sit-in in Islamabad against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan, has stated that the whereabouts of over 100 protestors picked up by the authorities are still unknown. This contradicts the Islamabad police's claim that all protestors...
News
Extremist Groups Back In Action As Blasphemy-Convict Junaid Hafeez’s Appeal Against...
LAHORE After blasphemy-convict Junaid Hafeez’s appeal against his death sentence was finally fixed before the Lahore High Court (LHC) earlier this month, his new lawyer, Saif ul Malook, appears to be mishandling the case, Dissent Today has learnt. Hafeez, a progressive academic who served as a...
Features
Over 2 Years In Torture Cells: How Journalist Zeenat Shehzadi Survived...
It has been five years since Pakistani journalist Zeenat Shehzadi was released after more than two years of enforced disappearance, but there has been no accountability for the torment she endured. Pakistan's Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, or any other constitutional body, has...
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Opinion
Illegal funding: Imran Khan’s...
Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) unanimous ruling saying that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received illegal funding from abroad is a...
Opinion
To Bring Pakistan Back...
This article is part of a series titled “Is There A Way Forward For Pakistan?”. Read more about the...
Features
Indian, Pakistani Fishermen Continue...
If 99 Indian fishermen incarcerated in Pakistani prisons had been repatriated last month as agreed, Jagdish Mangal might still...
News
PTI Leader Fawad Chaudhry...
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry was presented before Cantt Court in Lahore after being arrested by the...
News
Islamabad Guard Sentenced To...
A court in Islamabad has sentenced the security guard of a private company to life imprisonment for raping a...
Human Rights
Banning PTM Sends a...
The government of Pakistan's decision to ban the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a social movement that originated from the...
Latest articles
Opinion
Cholistan Farmers’ Longstanding Struggle for Land and Water Rights Remains Overlooked
Cholistan, a vast desert in Pakistan’s Punjab province, covers an area of 6.6 million...
News
Minor Christian Boy Jailed for Blasphemy in Sargodha Despite Juvenile Status
SARGODHA, PAKISTAN: A teenage Christian boy in Sargodha has been in prison on blasphemy...
News
Taliban, ISIS Fuelled The Sectarian Clashes in Parachinar, Says Ex-MNA
Clashing tribes in the restive Kurram district of Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province finally signed a...
Opinion
How Pakistan’s Peripheries Dissented in 2024
In 2024, democracy in Pakistan suffered setbacks on many fronts. Among these setbacks was...