ISLAMABAD: The chief executive of one of Pakistan’s most influential newspapers has denied accusations he raped an acclaimed filmmaker, in a case that has spotlighted sexual abuse targeting men and added momentum to the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement.
Director Jamshed Mahmood Raza took to social media over the weekend to allege that Dawn newspaper’s Hameed Haroon raped him 13 years ago.
In October, Raza first described the assault publicly on Twitter but referred to the alleged perpetrator as a “powerful person in our media world.”
Haroon — who hails from one of Pakistan’s wealthiest and most influential families — issued a fierce denial in Dawn, the country’s most popular English daily, late Monday, calling the accusations “simply untrue and intentionally fabricated.”
“I categorically deny the allegation of rape leveled against me,” said Haroon in a statement.
Raza later slammed Haroon’s comments, saying the statement was “nothing but a slap to all us survivors.”
The allegations have again stirred controversy in the deeply conservative country, where most discussions about sex and abuse are considered taboo.
Some voices have called for accountability, while others dismissed notions of male-on-male sexual assault.
“I have a question: how can a grown man be raped by another individual? Couldn’t they have fought him off,” tweeted writer Salman Rashid.
Others disagreed.
“Rape is not only about physical power; it is about power in general. If a powerful person coerces you to have sex with them, that is rape,” wrote Nida Kirmani on Twitter.
The #MeToo and #Timesup campaigns have gone global since allegations of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein were made in 2017, sparking an avalanche of accusations against other powerful men.
However, the movement has been slow to catch on in Pakistan, where women have fought for their rights for years in a patriarchal society where so-called “honor” killings and attacks on women remain commonplace.
Cases and allegations involving men assaulting other men have been even more rarely discussed in the country.
Pakistani media mogul rejects rape accusations by filmmaker
https://arab.news/6pbku
Pakistani media mogul rejects rape accusations by filmmaker
- Filmmaker alleges Dawn newspaper’s Hameed Haroon raped him 13 years ago
- Haroon dissed the allegations as “simply untrue and intentionally fabricated“
‘Pakistan Cyber Force’ group hacks India’s ABP News day after Pakistani channels targeted
- ‘Pakistan Cyber Force’ group hacks India’s ABP News day after Pakistani channels targeted
- Multiple Pakistani news channels were hacked on Sunday, during which broadcasts were interrupted with anti-army messages, local media reported
ISLAMABAD: A group by the name of ‘Pakistan Cyber Force’ on Monday hacked an Indian news channel ABP News to ran pro-Pakistan Army content, state media reported on Monday, a day after multiple Pakistani news channels were also hacked.
Pakistan Cyber Force launched a “retaliatory attack” by hacking Hindi-language news channel ABP News, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said. It added that excerpts of speeches by Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir ran on the Indian news channel as well as other content related to the Pakistan Army.
“Pakistan Cyber Force launched a retaliatory attack on India with slogans of Pakistan Zindabad started echoing on an Indian channel,” Radio Pakistan said.
The development takes place a day after prominent Pakistani news channel, Geo News, was hacked just as its 9 p.m. bulletin was about to begin.
Geo Managing Director Azhar Abbas confirmed the breach on Sunday, saying that the news channel was facing repeated hacking attempts since 24 hours by “unknown elements” trying to disrupt its transmission.
“For some time now, Geo News’ broadcast has been continuously disrupted,” he wrote on X. “The channel’s screen was hacked and an inappropriate message was aired.”
He distanced Geo News from the messages that were displayed on the channel, urging authorities to launch an investigation and hold elements responsible for the breach to account.
Pakistani English news website Express Tribune reported that other than Geo News, other local channels such as ARY News and SAMAA were also hacked. It said messages critical of the Pakistani military and its leadership were displayed during the broadcasts.
“In addition to hijacking broadcasts, several Pakistani news channels’ websites were allegedly used to run Google advertisement campaigns in support of Mossad,” Express Tribune said.
The development takes place as tensions in the Middle East surged on Saturday after the US and Israel launched joint attacks against Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A wave of cyber-enabled operations took place early Saturday morning alongside the coordinated US-Israel strikes on targets across Iran, international news agency Reuters reported, citing cybersecurity experts and observers.
It said multiple Irani news websites were hacked to display various messages. BadeSaba, an Iranian religious calendar app with more than 5 million downloads, was also hacked and used to display messages telling users, “It’s time for reckoning” and urging armed forces to give up their weapons.
