Anisa Shaheed refuses to give in

Afghan journalist Anisa Shaheed refuses to give in to Taliban

Anisa Shaheed

Anisa Shaheed - source

This is an excerpt from BBC News (Video produced by Suniti Singh and Nooshi, published 14 August 2021)

“I told my father, if I can’t be a journalist, I would rather do nothing and just stay home.”
She has one of the most dangerous jobs in Afghanistan. Not just as a journalist but also as a woman. Dozens of journalists have been killed since the war began in 2001. But Anisa refuses to give up.
“There are many untold stories in Afghanistan, and we need to tell them.”
Anisa grew up under Taliban rule, which curtailed jobs and education for women.
“For years, I lived with the dream that I could one day go back to school.”
Anisa attended Kabul university after the Taliban were ousted.. She then joined Tolo News, Afghanistan’s biggest and best-known media network.
“My father wanted me to become a teacher. After four to five years, my parents stopped objecting. Their only concern is my safety.”
Discrimination makes the job harder. A former Taliban commander said, he could not speak to a female journalist. He asked: “Is it possible for you to swap places with the cameraman and for the cameraman to sit and interview me instead?” Safety is a huge issue. Anisa takes a different route to work each day.
“We have to be careful about the calls we receive and where we go. We have lost a lot of friends and colleagues and each one pushed us towards hopelessness.”
The daily violence also has an emotional toll.
“Nothing is harder than reporting on a child who has been disabled, a child’s rights being violated, or a child crying, or when a woman is crying because of sheer oppression.”
In April, Afghanistan’s Free Speech Hub named Anisa ‘Journalist of the year’. Reporters Without Borders recognised her courageous reporting.
“I am worried, that the hard work in the past 20 years by the media and the people of Afghanistan, whose greatest achievement has been the freedom of expression, will be lost. My biggest dream is that I could travel to all the provinces of Afghanistan and report about the beauty, reconstruction and development. I think it is every Afghan’s wish to hear good news. I wish to see a peaceful Afghanistan.” BBC News

Updated at: 11.5.2023

Created at: 14.3.2023