The life of a female Afghan journalist was threatened Monday, October 5, at night in Peshawar, Pakistan when two unidentified assailants fired shots at her. The woman, Najeeba Sara Bibi, is associated with both the BBC Pashto Service and the Pashto daily Hewad.
Over the past few months she has received repeated threats in the form of phone calls and letters which carried the seal of the Afghan government. All communications have told her to stop working and return to her home. Threats also came during a face to face confrontation when six people stopped her on the street to give her the same “advice”.
Najeeba Sara lost her husband, Muhammed Ismail Khan, a former Kabul University professor, when he was hanged under the rule of Babrak Karmal. Now, she alone earns the money necessary to support her family; without her employment, her family would have no means to survive.
