‘Fake news’ of rape ignites real protest movement in Pakistan

Pakistani police dismiss viral campus rape reports as fake news, sparking student protests and igniting fears of harassment.

For Pakistani police, reports of a college campus rape that went viral this month are “fake news” fomenting unrest. For protesting students, the social media posts offer a rare public reckoning with sexual assault.

But as the clashing accounts have spilled from the Internet and onto the streets, both sides agree the case has ignited a tinderbox of legitimate fears.

“Girls who go to campuses definitely feel threatened,” 21-year-old Khadija Shabbir said at a Monday (October 21, 2024) protest in eastern Lahore city that was swiftly dismantled by authorities.

Senior officer Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi is charged with probing the case which police insist involves unverifiable online rumours and misinformation.

But she admits it has struck a real chord on the issue of harassment in Pakistan, a patriarchal country where open discussion of abuse is taboo. “All of us somewhere have experienced it,” she says.

It began earlier this month with a swirl of social media posts alleging a staff member had raped a woman in the basement of a Punjab College campus in Lahore.

When police and local media were unable to trace a victim, the local government and school administration dismissed the claims as a hoax.