Tag: sexual harassment

  • Pakistan has failed its women

    Pakistan has failed its women

    Just this week, we wrote about the heart-wrenching incident of sexual assault and harassment of a woman at Minar-e-Pakistan on August 14. As if this was not enough, two new videos surfaced yesterday — one in which a woman was forcefully kissed by a man when she was travelling on a Chingchi rickshaw on August 14.

    The man jumped on the Chingchi while it was stuck on the road due to traffic and tried to kiss the woman and we heard another woman’s scream, who was sitting with her. Another video shows a mob trying to harass a woman at Minar-e-Pakistan and she is only saved because she keeps waving a stick to disperse them and keep them at bay. 

    When we say that the women of Pakistan feel unsafe, we hear that these are just odd incidents and should not be used to distort the image of Pakistan. What exactly is the image of Pakistan if women of the country are being harassed, assaulted, and attacked every single day, in multiple incidents? These are not odd incidents. These incidents and their aftermath depict the reality of Pakistan: women are blamed after each incident.

    A TikToker gets sexually assaulted by hundreds of men for more than two and a half hours at Minar-e-Pakistan and no one helped her but she is blamed for going there for a meet and greet session with her fans. So, is a meet and greet session now forbidden for women in Pakistan, and does it warrant hundreds of men sexually assaulting a woman? When Noor Mukadam was beheaded, the women of Pakistan demanded justice. But there were those who started blaming a dead woman for being killed: ‘Why did she go there, why was she with a man alone, she had no family values.’ These were the disgusting comments being made to justify — JUSTIFY — a gruesome murder of an innocent woman. 

    When we hear such comments even after the most heinous crimes, it shows that Pakistan is no place for women. We do not respect our women. We do not like independent women. We dislike opinionated women. We justify crimes against women. We blame women for society’s ills. 

    Our leaders pass extremely violent and misogynistic comments against their women opponents and are still lauded instead of being reprimanded. When our top leader issues a rape apology, he is defended by women parliamentarians. When such is the attitude of the people on top, imagine what message it gives to the common people. They think they can do anything with women and get away with it. And they do get away in almost all cases. 
    This is our sad reality. Dear women of Pakistan, we are sorry. We have failed you.

  • Bakhtawar Bhutto demands men be banned from public spaces

    Bakhtawar Bhutto took to Twitter to express her outrage, demanding that all men should be banned from public spaces.

    In a series of tweets, Multimedia Journalist Sabin Agha shared the horrors of her experience of being harassed at Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi on August 14, a few years ago.

    “Some 100 odd frustrated boys & men attacked me & my cameraman at Mazar-e-Quaid. My cameraman and his camera were shoved back & forth/ but I was manhandled. I was groped on every part of my body. My hair was pulled from the back & both sides. My clothes & dupatta were pulled by men,” wrote Sabin.

    “At one point someone tried to wrap my dupatta around my neck to choke me, all the while groping me with hysterical laughs and every existing cussword hurled at me,” further added Sabin.

    “I went to police van standing at the doorstep of Mazar Quaid, who watched the entire episode. I asked them why did they not come to help. Police response: “bibi hum 4 hay aur wo 150. Hum kese rok sktay thy. Ap ayee kiyun [Madam, we were four in number and they 150 in total. How could we possibly have stopped them? Why did you come here?],” wrote Sabin.

    Reacting to the journalist’s experience angry Baktawar Bhutto demanded that “all men should be banned from public places”.

    “Another harrowing experience – witnessed by police who refused to help despite their ability to call for backup as well as use weapons to disperse the crowd. We need more women to safeguard women,” wrote Bakhtawar.

    Recently, three women were harassed in three separate incidents on Aug 14, which sparked outrage on social media.

  • Woman assaulted by hundreds of unidentified men at Minar-e-Pakistan

    Trigger warning: The following content contains allegations of sexual abuse and might be triggering for some readers

    A viral video shows a woman being sexually assaulted by a large group of men at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on 14 August, Pakistan’s independence day. The incident has been confirmed after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered.

    The FIR was registered under sections 354 A, 382, 147 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code against hundreds of unidentified persons for assaulting and stealing from a female TikToker and at least five other people, Dawn has reported.

    The complainant stated: “I was stripped and my clothes were torn apart,” adding that she cried for help but no one came to her rescue. She also alleged that her gold ornaments, cash and mobile phone were also snatched by the mob.

    The complainant further stated that she along with six companions were attacked by 300 to 400 people while filming a video near the Minar. “The unidentified persons assaulted us violently.”

    “The suspects should be traced with the help of footage,” said Lahore DIG Operations Sajid Kiyani in a statement.

    Read more– ‘It was her fault, Poor 400 men’: Female stars and politicians express anger on the ‘Minar-e-Pakistan’ incident

    Those who “violated a woman’s honour and harassed them will be brought within the ambit of the law”, the statement added.

    The video had been making rounds on social media in which a group of men can be seen groping, assaulting and carrying the woman.

    https://twitter.com/OutOnAbudget/status/1427406677154975744
  • Female politicians demand public hanging of rapists and murderers

    Female politicians demand public hanging of rapists and murderers

    Almost all the women lawmakers of the National Assembly, both from treasury and opposition benches, on Friday unanimously demanded the public hanging of all rapists, reported Dawn.

    The demand was made in the National Assembly by women members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

    Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari said the government had recently passed a law against rape cases, but laws will not work alone. There is a need to change the mindset of our society about women.

    She said that the government has to protect all women as women will no more accept their humiliation and suffering.

    Mehnaz Akbar Aziz of PML-N said the killer of Noor Muqaddam must be hanged in public so that such incidents do not take place in the future.

    “If Pakistan has to be run, then rapists and killers must be hanged in public. We will not let the country be run in the way it is being run,” said PTI lawmaker Asma Qadeer who broke into tears while speaking on the floor of the house.

    Asma Qadeer talked about the rising cases of rape of women and children and the recent beheading of Noor Mukadam.

    PPP’s Shamim Ara Panhwar said that in the light of increasing incidents of child abuse and rape of women, there was no other option but to hang rapists and killers in public.

  • Celebrities slam ‘Laapata’ for trivialising ‘harassment’

    Celebrities slam ‘Laapata’ for trivialising ‘harassment’

    Drama serial Laapata starring A-list stars like Ayeza Khan, Sarah Khan and Ali Rehman Khan went on-air on July 28th. The drama has been scrutinized by a blog for treating the conduct of harassment insensitively.

    Singer Meesha Shafi and Actor Adnan Malik took to their Instagram stories to slam the makers of the show for trivializing a sensitive subject like harrasment, that too in a play starring some of the biggest names of the industry.

    The ongoing rise in crimes against women in Pakistan makes the content of the scene even more problematic for the society and the mindsets of the viewers.

    The Meray Paas Tum Ho star posted the same scene and mentioned that her character will get into negative circumstances because of her wrongdoings.

    Earlier actress Iqra Aziz was panned by audiences for trivialising domestic violence in her drama serial Jhooti co-starring Yasir Hussain and Ahmad Ali Butt.

    Iqra Aziz's drama Jhooti disregards victims of domestic abuse - Film & TV - Images

    Read More: Ayeza Khan hits back at trolls, pens a lengthy reply

  • ‘No child in Pakistan is safe’: Shaniera Akram on rape, murder of a six year old

    ‘No child in Pakistan is safe’: Shaniera Akram on rape, murder of a six year old

    Shaniera Akram took to her Twitter account to express her anger over the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl Maham, in Karachi who was raped and then killed in Karachi on  Wednesday. The child went missing from Karachi’s Korangi area and was later found dead in a dumpster in the city.

    As per reports, her dead body was shifted to the hospital for postmortem. The autopsy report confirmed that the girl was killed after being sexually assaulted.

    “Things have got to change, It’s got to stop. Things have to change as it stands today, no child in Pakistan is safe”, said Shaniera in a tweet.

    She highlighted the deep-rooted issue of child sexual abuse in Pakistan in a series of tweets.

  • Meesha Shafi slams Saba Qamar

    Meesha Shafi slams Saba Qamar

    Cheekh fame actress Saba Qamar took to her Instagram handle to raise awareness on the plight of women in Pakistan post the Noor Mukadam case and rising crimes against women in the country.

    Singer Meesha Shafi has called out the Hindi Medium diva for ‘hypocritical behaviour’ as she believes that Saba is a part of the problem for being friends with alleged harassers.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WhatsApp-Image-2021-07-27-at-11.31.18-AM-576x1024.jpeg

    On the work front, Saba is currently shooting for Saqib Khan directorial, Tumharay Husn Ke Naam, opposite to Imran Abbas. Written by Sara Qayyum, it also features Chupke Chupke fame, Sidra Niazi and Asad Siddiqui in significant roles.

  • CM Punjab’s aide harasses man by sending him sexually explicit videos

    CM Punjab’s aide harasses man by sending him sexually explicit videos

    A sessions court in Islamabad on Thursday ordered registration of a first information report (FIR) against Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Investment Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for harassing a man through WhatsApp and sending him “sexually explicit videos”, reports Dawn.

    The orders were issued by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Ata Rabbani while hearing a petition filed by complainant Khawaja Faheem.

    According to the petitioner’s counsel, Imran Feroz Malik, his client met Ilyas at the Centaurus Mall in October 2019 during the launching ceremony of a private project. Ilyas who according to the petitioner is the owner of Centaurus Mall, invited him to his residence for Iftar dinner which Faheem accepted considering it a business meeting.

    Following the meeting, the CM’s adviser sent a few messages along with “sexually explicit videos” to Faheem from his WhatsApp number, which the latter found disturbing, and which caused him “mental agony and trauma”, according to his lawyer.

    He reported the matter to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Cell, Faheem’s lawyer said.

    After the case was taken to the sessions court by the complainant, the FIA submitted its reply, saying the forensic analysis was conducted on the mobile phone of the petitioner and it transpired he had in fact received the video.

  • Standing committee approves chemical castration of sexual abusers

    National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice has approved chemical castration, which falls in the Criminal Law bill.

    As per the Criminal Law Bill 2020, if the accused commits the crime again after serving a life sentence, he will be sentenced to chemical castration.

    Under this law, special court, anti-rape crises cell, and special committee would be set up to hear rape cases and registered complaints.

    Geo news reported that under the Criminal Amendment Bill 2021, a rapist who commits the crime again will be chemically castrated.

    In November 2020, the federal cabinet had approved a law that proposed chemical castration as a punishment for convicted rapists.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan had previously said the government will not tolerate any lax attitude in the implementation of anti-rape laws and added that the safety of all citizens was the utmost priority of the government.

    The premier said the legislation will be clear and transparent with strict enforcement. He said the rape survivors will be able to register complaints without fear, adding that the government will protect their identity.

    Regarding chemical castration, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Nafisa Shah said it is inhuman under the law. The law for awarding death punishment and life imprisonment to rapists already exist, she added.

  • ‘Rape is an act of violence’: Pakistanis educate PM Imran on rape

    ‘Rape is an act of violence’: Pakistanis educate PM Imran on rape

    Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday held an interactive session with the general public via phone calls in which he answered their questions and responded to their concerns.

    During the session, while responding to a question about what the federal government is doing to curb the recent surge of rape cases and sexual violence especially against children, PM Khan instead of laying out his government’s plans blamed the rising cases on vulgarity.

    The premier’s comments caused an uproar on social media, prompting Pakistanis to not only bust myths related to rape but also call him out for his insensitive remarks. Some even shared their own personal experiences to make it more clear that why rape happens and why it is never okay to blame the victim.