ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: Experts and digital rights advocates have stressed the need for an urgent overhaul of Pakistan’s cyber-governance, suggesting the establishment of “One-Stop Crisis Centers” to combat a staggering rise in technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TFVAW).
The call was made during a high-level seminar hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here wherein participants highlighted that cybercrime complaints in Pakistan reached a record high of 171,000 in 2025, marking a sharp escalation from 102,000 just five years ago, said a press release.
Dr Razia Safdar, SDPI’s Senior Policy Advisor, emphasized that though the government is promoting digital transformation, the lack of safety is creating a “new frontier of violence.” She cited global data showing that 67% of women are affected by online misinformation and 66% experience cyber harassment.
“Online harassment is no longer confined to the digital space; it translates into real-life threats,” Dr Safdar warned, noting that AI-driven threats like deep-fakes and manipulated content are causing irreversible emotional and reputational harm.
Fahmida Khan, Deputy Country Representative for UN Women Pakistan, shared a harrowing personal experience where her own photograph was misused on an online platform. “If individuals in professional positions can be exploited so easily, the risk for women in rural areas is catastrophic,” she stated.
Dr Syed Kaleem Imam, the SDPI Visiting Fellow and former IG Police, criticized the existing infrastructure, noting that while Islamabad has introduced modern “facilitation centers,” much of the country lacks specialized units for gender-sensitive interviewing. He debunked the myth that cybercrime is untraceable, stating that “every digital act leaves a forensic footprint,” but admitted that law-enforcement needs better training in trauma-informed approaches.
Muhammad Akram Mughal, the Deputy Director of National Cyber Crime Investigation (NCCI), revealed the immense pressure on state resources. While complaints have surged, the conviction rate for cybercrime in Pakistan remains a low 3.7 per cent.
“Our investigators are overwhelmed. Under international standards, one officer should handle 10 cases; in Pakistan, they are managing over 400 each,” Mughal explained. Despite these hurdles, he noted that over 250 awareness seminars in universities have helped reduce certain incidents by 30 per cent.
Discussing the economic repercussions of digital insecurity Naghmana Hashmi, Advisor for Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment at Workplace (FOSPAH), and the former ambassador said that nearly 15 per cent of professional women are compelled to leave their jobs due to online harassment.
“Pakistan loses billions annually in productivity due to workplace harassment. We cannot achieve economic growth if half of our population is scared to be harassed online,” she argued.
Usman Zafar, a digital resilience specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), highlighted the “gendered propaganda” used to silence women in public life. He distinguished between misinformation and mal information, the sharing of private, real content with harmful intent, which is increasingly used to target activists and journalists.
The panel concluded with a multi-level strategy for a safer digital Pakistan, i.e. i) Developing a comprehensive legal framework specifically for TFVAW, ii) One-Stop Crisis Centers: Adopting the Thailand model to provide legal, medical, and psychological support without the immediate requirement of an FIR, iii) Integrating digital citizenship and privacy management into the national school curriculum, iv) Enforcing human rights standards for tech companies operating within Pakistan.
