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Pakistani celebrities, politicians outraged over public assault of TikToker by ‘hundreds’ of men

A Pakistani visitor swings in front of the Minar-i-Pakistan monument in Lahore on February 12, 2010. (AFP/ File)
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Updated 19 August 2021
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Pakistani celebrities, politicians outraged over public assault of TikToker by ‘hundreds’ of men

  • Woman says was filming video with friends on August 14 when 400 people attacked the group near Minar-e-Pakistan monument
  • Politicians and members of the entertainment industry ask for swift justice, call out those indulging in victim blaming 
Updated 19 August 2021
Sabah Bano Malik

RAWALPINDI: Pakistani politicians and members of the entertainment industry have expressed outrage and disgust on social media this week over an August 14 public assault of a woman near the Minar-e-Pakistan monument in the central city of Lahore.
The incident, for which a case has been registered against hundreds of men, sent shock waves across the country after videos of a mob attacking and sexually assaulting the woman were shared online on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at the Greater Iqbal Park, home to the Minar-e-Pakistan monument, built to commemorate the first official call for a separate and independent homeland for the Muslims of British India by the All-India Muslim League Party in 1940. Pakistan became an independent country seven years later, on August 14. Each year, thousands of people flock to the monument to mark independence day.
The survivor of the attack is reportedly a TikToker and was shooting videos in the park when she was sexually assaulted by a mob of at least 400 men, she has said in media interviews. Non-bailable clauses have been added to the police case filed against the mob and Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar are personally following the case, according to their close aides.
Celebrities and politicians, too, have come out to express anger and grief.
Pakistan’s best known actress Mahira Khan has called for the men in the videos to be made “examples” of.
“I can’t believe what I just saw!!! I’ve said it before and I will say it again — make an example out of these men!”


Khan also called out the ‘victim blaming’ that has become a common occurrence in Pakistan after such attacks, saying, “I’m sorry.. I keep forgetting — it was Her fault!! Poor 400 men they couldn’t help it.”

 


Actress Mansha Pasha also voiced her frustration over the victim blaming and called out people asking why the woman was in a public space on a public holiday and shooting a TikTok video.
“This whole drama of why was she there and what was she wearing is getting really old and no one is buying it anymore,” Pasha tweeted. “We don’t want to do anything to protect women and we want to keep stripping you of dignity because we can.”

 

 

The Pakistani PM's advisor on religious harmony, Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, also addressed the victim blaming, saying even a woman who was naked in public could not be assaulted:

Actor Farhan Saeed voiced his grief over the incident, saying he felt “ashamed” of being a man.
“Disgusted, Furious, Heartbroken, Ashamed! Ashamed of being a man today, ashamed that the men of this country keep doing these horrible acts every other day,” he wrote on Twitter.

 

 


“Another day, another incident, another moment we find ourselves collectively hanging our heads in shame,” Actor Osman Khalid Butt, who is considered a male ally, said, demanding that authorities take action and bring the perpetrators to justice.

 

 


Actor Adnan Siddiqui also demanded the police act fast.
“Now that we have a plethora of evidence of what unfolded at #minarepakistan, can we finally see our police in action by putting those men responsible for this gruesome act behind the bars?” he wrote on Twitter.

 

 


Author, journalist and activist Fatima Bhutto called on authorities to arrest the culprits without delay.
“While assaulting a woman at Minar e Pakistan, the hundreds of men involved filmed themselves,” she tweeted. “Thanks to the abundance of video evidence, can we expect over 400 arrests to be made in Lahore without delay?“

 

 


As the videos and calls for justice went viral, the #NotAllMen hashtag trended in Pakistan, a phrase mostly used as a general defense of men in gendered criticisms of their behavior.
“I want to hear what the “not all men” brigade has to say this time,” actor Mawra Hocane said.

 

 


“We cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand. #Pakistan is not safe. Not for our women. Not for our children,” said Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the sister of Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the daughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
“Our children aren’t safe from rape even in death. This is the disgusting shameful reality.”

 

 


Senator Sherry Rehman said she was disgusted at the misogyny in questioning the victim’s clothing or lifestyle:
“All of the public predators should be in jail; people sharing the video should be ashamed of salacious posting,” she said.

 

 


Politician and activist Mohammad Jibran Nasir wrote of the impunity that men felt while committing such crimes in Pakistan:
“Laws alone can’t fix our moral and social degeneration,” he tweeted. “They didn’t care for sanctity of another person’s body, they didn’t care about sanctity of #MinarePakistan, they didn’t care about sanctity of #Muharram and they didn’t care that stripping a woman carries the death penalty.”

 

 

 

 

Topics: Lahore Assault

Pakistan’s commerce minister to visit China today for enhanced trade, export revenue

Updated 09 December 2023
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Pakistan’s commerce minister to visit China today for enhanced trade, export revenue

  • Dr. Gohar Ejaz says trade with China can help overcome the country some of its major economic crises
  • Pakistan exports $20 billion worth of goods from China only exporting $2 billion worth of products to it
Updated 09 December 2023
KHURSHID AHMED   

KARACHI: Pakistan’s commerce minister is scheduled to leave for China on a three-day visit today, Sunday, with a high-profile business delegation to enhance the country’s exports and improve its revenues.
Pakistan has faced tough financial challenges in recent years and wants to strengthen its economy by seeking foreign investment and exploring various trade destinations.
Last year, the country’s export revenue stood at $39.42 billion, marking a 24.94 percent increase from 2021. Pakistan plans to increase this figure to $50 billion in five years while seeking achieve a $100 billion export target in the long term.
According to an official statement released on Saturday, the visit of the interim commerce minister, Dr. Gohar Ejaz, will be a follow-up to Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s travel to China in October this year.
“Pakistan has a huge volume of trade with China,” the minister said in a brief video message ahead of his visit. “Pakistan imports about $20 billion worth of goods from China, while only $2 billion worth of goods go to China.”
He said this trade balance needed to be fixed.
Dr. Ejaz also noted that China was an ideal destination for Pakistani exports, adding that enhanced trade with it could help the country overcome some major economic challenges.
“All the sufferings of Pakistan at present, including its current account deficit, can be addressed by trading with only one country,” he added.
The Pakistani delegation will hold several business-to-business meetings on the sidelines to explore trade and investment opportunities.
The delegation will explore agricultural, electronic vehicles, marble, cement, fertilizer, fruit and vegetables, home appliances, glass, and chemicals and textiles sectors during the visit.
Its members will also explore a major technology hub near Beijing which is also known as China’s Silicon Valley.

Topics: Pakistan China

Ex-PM Sharif advocates improved relations with India, Afghanistan to boost Pakistan’s global standing

Updated 09 December 2023
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Ex-PM Sharif advocates improved relations with India, Afghanistan to boost Pakistan’s global standing

  • Nawaz Sharif faced criticism by his political rivals for trying to improve bilateral ties with India in previous tenures
  • His statement is viewed as significant since he is believed to be a strong candidate for the PM’s post after Feb. 8 polls
Updated 09 December 2023
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday stressed the need to improve Pakistan’s relations with neighboring countries, including India and Afghanistan, to pursue more effective diplomacy on the world stage and raise the country’s international status.
The ex-premier’s statement comes amid Pakistan’s frosty bilateral relations with the neighboring states, particularly India and Afghanistan, over a spectrum of issues, including a protracted territorial dispute and cross-border militancy.
Pakistan severed diplomatic and economic ties with India in August 2019 after New Delhi stripped the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special constitutional status. Its relationship with Kabul is also at the lowest ebb following a surge in suicide attacks in Pakistan which have been blamed on a militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose leadership is believed to be operating from Afghanistan. These mounting tensions between the two neighbors have also led to the deportation of Afghan nationals from the country due to security reason.
In his past tenures as the prime minister, Sharif tried to improve Pakistan’s relations with its arch-rival and nuclear-armed neighbor, India, for which he also faced criticism from his political opponents. His recent statement is viewed as significant since he is widely believed to be seeking the position of prime minister in the wake of the next general elections slated for February 8.
“How is it possible to achieve global status if your neighbors are upset with you, or you with them,” he questioned while addressing the party’s parliamentary board meeting in Lahore.
“We have to mend our relations with India and Afghanistan,” he continued. “Strengthen them further with Iran and China.”
Sharif said the government should not just focus on economic obligations but display its performance in every sector.
He maintained the country had done quite well during his past tenures in all the fields, including defense and foreign affairs.
Referring to his decision in May 1998 to test nuclear weapons in response to India, he said his administration had bolstered the country’s security.
Sharif recalled that two Indian prime ministers, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 and Narendra Modi in 2015, had visited Pakistan during his past tenures.
“Did anyone visit before them,” he asked.
The ex-premier returned to Pakistan from London in October after ending a self-imposed exile of about four years to contest the upcoming polls. He will spearhead his party’s election campaign and contend for the top political office in Pakistan for the fourth time.

Topics: Nawaz Sharif

Pakistani court to announce verdict in Sara Inam murder case on December 14

Updated 09 December 2023
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Pakistani court to announce verdict in Sara Inam murder case on December 14

  • Inam, a Pakistani-Canadian, was killed, according to police, by her husband with dumbbells in September of last year
  • Her murder was reminiscent of a similar case in which 27-year-old Noor Mukadam was beheaded by a childhood friend
Updated 09 December 2023
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court is expected to announce its verdict in the high-profile murder case of a 37-year-old economist, whose husband has been accused of killing her with dumbbells, on December 14 after reserving the judgment on Saturday.
Sara Inam, a Canadian national employed in Abu Dhabi, was murdered, according to police, by her husband Shahnawaz Amir at a suburban Islamabad residence last year on September 23.
Her father interacted with the media at the National Press Club in Islamabad on the first anniversary of her death, seeking expedited justice in the case.
“It has been a year,” Engineer Inam Rahim, her father, told journalists. “We were hoping this was going to take about six months since it was an open-and-shut case.”
Pakistan’s Geo News reported earlier today that a district and sessions court in the federal capital had reserved its verdict in the matter “which will be announced on December 14.”
According to Inam’s family, she got married to Amir of her own choice on July 18 in his hometown of Chakwal, with neither couple’s parents present.
Inam, who had only met Amir three times before their marriage, informed her parents of the relationship post-wedding.
Last year, her father said before the funeral that his daughter had been “trapped” into marriage by Amir who wanted to fleece her for money.
However, Amir pleaded innocent during the trial, claiming he had found Inam dead in the bathtub.
Inam’s case spotlighted thousands of incidents of violence against women every year in Pakistan, from rape and acid attacks to sexual assault, kidnappings and so-called honor killings.
Her murder was reminiscent of a similar case in July 2021 wherein 27-year-old Noor Mukadam was beheaded by a childhood friend in an upscale Islamabad neighborhood, drawing an outpouring of anger over femicides in the South Asian nation.

Topics: Pakistan sara inam

Pakistan decries Security Council’s inability to demand Gaza cease-fire amid mounting Palestinian casualties

Updated 09 December 2023
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Pakistan decries Security Council’s inability to demand Gaza cease-fire amid mounting Palestinian casualties

  • Over 17,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the war on October 7
  • Pakistan asks the United Nations to ‘end this inhuman war and protect the people of Gaza from genocide’
Updated 09 December 2023
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Saturday it was “deeply disappointed” by the United Nations Security Council’s failure to seek an end to Israeli airstrikes and ground offensive against the residents of Gaza amid a massive loss of human life in its latest session in New York.
The session was convened a day earlier after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked a rarely exercised power under Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the Security Council to respond to the situation in the Palestinian enclave where over 17,000 people have been killed in two months.
The war began on October 7 after a surprise attack on Israel by Hamas led to nearly 1,200 casualties, with the group describing its action as a response to the deteriorating Palestinian condition under Israeli occupation.
The international community widely viewed Israel’s response as disproportionate since it resulted in the destruction of hospitals and residential neighborhoods and the killings of significant number of civilians, including women and children.
As the Security Council convened its special meeting to address the issue, the United States vetoed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Palestinian territory.
“Pakistan is deeply disappointed that the UN Security Council has once again failed to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, even in the face of a human tragedy of epic proportions taking place there,” the foreign office said in a statement released in Islamabad. “Despite the invocation of Article-99 of the UN Charter by the Secretary-General and his warnings of humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the Council has failed to perform its primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security.”
The foreign office described the “collective punishment” endured by the besieged people of Gaza as unprecedented and unacceptable.
“Continuation of Israel’s campaign in occupied Palestine will prolong human suffering, with massive civilian casualties and forced displacement of millions of people,” it added. “It could also trigger a wider and more dangerous conflict. A heavy responsibility rests on all who have contributed to the prolongation of uninterrupted bombing of the people of Gaza.”
The official Pakistani statement emphasized the need for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire, adding: “We urge the UN Security Council to act now, end this inhuman war and protect the people of Gaza from genocide.”
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas also maintained earlier today that the United States was “responsible for the bloodshed” of children in the Gaza Strip.
A statement issued by the Palestinian Authority said: “The president has described the American position as aggressive and immoral, a flagrant violation of all humanitarian principles and values, and holds the United States responsible for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women and elderly people in the Gaza Strip.”

Topics: Pakistan Palestine Gaza

Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan signs deal with China’s Gansu for transfer of high-mountain agriculture technology

Updated 09 December 2023
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Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan signs deal with China’s Gansu for transfer of high-mountain agriculture technology

  • Only one percent of land in the northern Pakistani region has been used for agriculture, according to the UNDP
  • Officials say the move will ensure food security by helping farmers increase production of wheat, maize and potato
Updated 09 December 2023
Nisar Ali

GILGIT: The government in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region has signed an agreement with China’s Gansu province for the transfer of high-mountain agriculture technology and machinery to the mountainous region that will help local farmers increase their production of various crops, a GB agriculture official said on Saturday.

GB has not officially been part of Pakistan but forms part of the portion of disputed Kashmir that is administered by Pakistan. The region is Pakistan’s only land link to China and is at the heart of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure development plan. 

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the GB government and China’s Gansu province was signed on Friday during the visit of an eight member GB government delegation, led by GB Agriculture Minister Muhammad Anwar, to China’s Gansu province. 

The transfer of technology will modernize the GB agriculture sector and help local farmer increase production of wheat, maize, potato and buckwheat, according to officials. 

“The objective of the cooperation is to promote agriculture, food security, livestock and human development in Gilgit-Baltistan,” Khadim Hussain, a coordinator of the GB Economic Transformation Initiative who was also part of the delegation that visited Gansu, told Arab News. 

“From the Chinese side, Gansu province is the center of the Belt and Road Initiative and Gilgit-Baltistan is the gateway of CPEC. So, to improve communication between these two regions, the Chinese government will help the government of Gilgit-Baltistan for the development of agriculture, food security, and human and livestock development.”  

Hussain noted the geography and weather of China’s Gansu was quite similar to GB, which is home to five out of 14 world peaks above the height of 8,000 meters. 

However, only one percent of GB land has been used for agriculture, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the GB agriculture department. The rest of nearly 72,000 square kilometers of administrative territory consists of 52 percent rangelands, four percent forests, while the remaining portion has mountains and barren land. 

“Under this agreement, Gansu Agriculture and Mechanical Company will provide machinery to the [GB] agriculture department that could be used for sowing, harvesting and silage. The company will train local farmers in running the machines. They will also provide technical and vocational training to locals,” Hussain said.  

“The cooperation will be boosted in the future and R&D (research and development) in the field of agriculture, livestock and fisheries will also be strengthened with the help of China.” 

Ghulamullah Saqib, a deputy director at the GB agriculture department, described the move as a “good omen” for the region. 

“The commitment of Gansu province to uplift the agriculture sector by transferring technology to GB is a good omen and welcoming thing,” Saqib told Arab News.  

“Only two percent area of the whole GB is arable. Of which, farming is happening at only one percent and the rest one percent is facing a water crisis.”  

The official said only one percent of agricultural land was not enough for the region, which was why the government had been purchasing wheat from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation (PASSCO). 

“GB can produce food for its population for two months only and if we do not pay attention to the agriculture sector and modern farming, we will have to face famine in future,” Saqib said.  

“After this MoU, a ray of hope has emerged because it will help grow the agriculture sector in the region.”

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