Veteran Pakistani journalist honoured for pioneering work

Zubeida was recognised as a pioneer who worked to enact hiring policies favorable to women while working at Dawn.

The International Women's Media Foundation has honored 70-year-old Pakistani journalist Zubeida Mustafa with its annual lifetime achievement award at a lunch in New York Wednesday, Journalism Pakistan reported.

Mustafa was honoured for her work in tilt hiring policies favorable to women during her 30 years at Dawn. She is the first Pakistani woman to be awarded by the foundation.

On the journalism side, Mustafa covered issues that either received too little attention or were sometimes considered taboo. These included reports on breast cancer, contraception and rape.

In her acceptance speech, she paid tribute to the Pakistani women who followed in her journalistic footsteps, saying that without them, she would not have "earned the title of pioneer."

Other women who were awarded at the ceremony included a columnist imprisoned under Ethiopia's controversial anti-terrorism laws, an Azerbaijani investigative radio reporter who had surveillance cameras planted in her apartment and a Palestinian blogger who has been beaten and tortured for reporting on abuses and protests in Gaza, they received Courage in Journalism awards from the women's media group.