Cynthia D Ritchie: A journalist or a CIA agent?

Cynthia Ritchie was making headlines earlier this year. In June, the Pakistan-based American blogger had accused a former Pakistani Prime Minister of assault. She had also claimed that a Former Minister had raped her.

Three months on, Cynthia Ritchie has been asked to leave Pakistan and Islamabad has refused to extend her visa.

The blogger has been given a 15-day deadline to pack her bags and leave but she leaves behind a series of questions starting with who is she — is she a CIA agent, a journalist ora lobbyist? Her purpose of stay in Pakistan for nearly a decade and her close ties with Pakistan's political and military elites are still unanswered.

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She is being named, shamed and blamed. Her name has become synonymous to sex and scandals in Pakistan.

She claims to be a blogger, but does not mind being called a journalist.

It was in May this year that Cynthia Ritchie made news when she accused Pakistan's Former Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto of condoning rape.

Soon, there were cybercrime complaints against her and within days, she accused PPP leaders of rape and manhandling. In the line of fire was former Interior Minister Rehman Malik. She accused him of rape.

Ritchie also accused former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of manhandling her. The same allegations were pressed against former Health Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin.

By June 20202, the name Cynthia Ritchie was being followed by a series of questions about her identity, purpose of stay in Pakistan, her intentions and her political connections.

Cynthia D Ritchie is a 44-year-old American. She has been living in Pakistan for nearly a decade now. Some call her a showpiece of the military and it is no secret that ISPR pays foreigners to paint the military in a good light.

In one interview, Ritchie says she came to Pakistan to highlight the sense of normalcy in the nation.

She has 293,000 followers on Twitter,350,000 followers on Facebook and she is very popular on YouTube too. Despite her popularity, not much is known about this American woman.

On Facebook, Titchie says she is a film director. "Cynthia is a freelance director/producer/writer currently working on an international travel series," her Facebook bio reads.

In an open letter to Facebook in 2017, Ritchie claims that she has taught social media to a government organisation several years ago. "I consider myself to be a peace activist", she says.

In 2013, Dawn listed her as one of the 10 Americans doing great things for Pakistan. It says Ritchie participated in a variety of humanitarian projects in Pakistan including flood relief, health care projects, reconstruction of high schools and a women's health clinic.

There is no clear answer for who she is or where in the US is she from. The buzz online is that she may be a CIA agent, which may not be true.

So, the questions about her identity, her contentions stay unanswered.The truth may come out once Ritchie is deported to the US within less than 15 days.