Only foreign female vlogger Alex Reynolds lost purpose was brave enough to highlight the issues and painted the real picture about women travelling in Pak, but was censored at Pakistan Tourism Summit organized by Atif Khan attended by Ex-PM Imran Khan. I abandoned Twitter long ago but this piece by @samirashackle is worth coming out of the shadows – a deep dive into the strange mélange of white saviorism, political propaganda, and who knows what else that drives western travel influencers in Pakistan.
After being censored from the summit, she decided to voice her concerns through her channel and present the speech she initially prepared for the event. She said: “If a voice is silenced in one place, it can simply appear in another.” She raised her concerns that in a country of 200 million people not a single local travel influencer is being featured in this summit to talk about the real issues? Is the country ready and is anyone willing to actually talk about it critically asked lost purpose in 2019? Pakistan is about to take off, but is the country ready? Is anyone willing to actually talk about it critically?
Disappointingly we had to cut the material about the tourism summit in the end, but still great to have your perspective. Hope you’re well. Sadly. That is the one drawback of this great piece. Appreciated your video about it Alex. Also this piece in dawn. The Pakistan Tourism Summit features international travel bloggers, but where are the local influencers? Don’t get the message to be honest. If you wanted to present Pakistani dissident or western favored journalists of Pakistan then it makes sense. No country is perfect and nether Pakistan. Other wise it’s just another attempt to malign Pakistan due to some personal agenda.
A story that captures a lot of things about the influencer market. “Although she was often referred to as a blogger, she didn’t have a blog.
Every time a solo gori vlogger visiting Pakistan narrated her experience as “safe” and best for solo female travelers, I saw hundreds of hyper Patriots in the comments rejoicing and claiming that this is the real face of our country & our women are safest in the world. They also belittled the experiences of local women by saying “Ye tou bus Mulk ka naam kharaab kar rahi hein” .. lol as if those who lived here their entire lives know nothing but a random foreigner on a 5 nights trip are better representative of the country! Today, that image is shattered too! A foreign vlogger, Arabella was gang r*ped while visiting Dera Ghazi Khan! And as per reports, the perpetrators were not just any deranged fellows but men who ran a tourism page, portraying a “soft image of Pakistan”. The country stands at the lowest on the scale of gender parity and our passport has maintained its “4th worst passport” position consecutively. Next time, before you worry about the image, worry a little about those who are actually destroying it by their actions! Punish those who broke trust in her innocent eyes.
Oh nobody believes the safe for women narrative, every day you witness something or the other either around you or in the news, among the worst places in the world for women to even step out, not saying that their homes are safe. All my life I heard about Baloch traditions which give utmost respect to women & guests. She is both, a woman & a guest. They demolition not only image you talking about but the Baloch traditions too. They deserve most sever punishment. Most of these ‘image building tourists’ are sponsored by ‘powerful’ circles who believe their unquestionable power has the capacity to do anything they wish. A shithole cannot be made a paradise through sponsoring ads and tourists and making songs as if there’s no misery.
