Today, a Pakistan experiencing relief for women, now finds itself feeling the fear of encroachment of oppression again. For Pakistan, the #MeToo movement is an opportunity for men to engage in old practices by recalling old-world religious roles and victimization.
It is up to women to prevent such loss of human rights ("Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights."). Sexual harassment and sexual assault when viewed through the lens of other countries where rape is a punishment for flirtatious behavior or to bring shame to a family by village elders; cries not to the past, but, to the future.
The very same ideas that hated girls for attending school are the same voices of oppression of women today. The future belongs to the voices in Pakistan men, women, girls and boys, that see a future where village elders have been the corrupting influence of life.
May 4, 2018
...The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (click here) on Friday sent a violation notice to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) slamming two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders for their misogynist remarks against women of PTI.
In the letter sent to PEMRA by the PTI central secretariat, both Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Federal Minister of Water and Power Abid Sher Ali were lambasted for using inappropriate language for the women of PTI and the women that attend their rally....
Pakistan has made immeasurable progress in recent years. The power within that women's movement has brought freedom of expression and potential and real careers that add to the quality of life for women and their families. Pakistani women are becoming greater and greater treasures to the country and the future of all it's people. And let's also realize happiness is a women's right and today more women experience happiness than ever before.
May 4, 2018
By Rana Yasif
The Punjab Assembly on Friday (click here) passed a bill making the teaching of the Holy Quran compulsory in schools across the province.
The bill, Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Bill 2017, makes it mandatory for children in grade one to five to recite the scripture in Arabic, while children in grade six and above will be required to recite the Holy Quran along with the translation.
The provincial legislature also passed another bill aiming to regulate the use of loudspeakers in mosques....
The increased freedom of women in Pakistan has improved the overall quality of life of all citizens. Women still love men, they still long for a family and find joy in being married. There is nothing that is going to change that. When elders fear for the country in requiring compulsory religious education, the Pakistani legislature needs to be reminded of it's place in advancing the quality of life of all the people and not just the narrow path of a few.
May 3, 2018
By Mino Nasar
I am not going to start with a validation of how the #MeToo as a movement was so desperately needed to save us women. Frankly, my conscience could no longer bear witnessing the abuse of this narrative, most especially within the elite circles, to which all of us writing and commenting belong....
...Women of the elite are usually not shrinking violets. If anything, I have been harassed by more women than men in my life. If I were to start with my stories and named them with a hashtag on social media, all those women, with their feminist, professional careers and humanitarian credentials, would be done for. But this is not a matter to be hijacked for personal score settling. Therefore, imagine my utter surprise when I read Raja’s mean-spirited allegations against Ali Sibtain Fazli....
...Our nation may have started a transformation, thanks to the #MeToo movement. Unfortunately, in the context of Pakistan, effects are going to be much more destructive....
...This victimology will have another alarming negative impact: men avoiding collaborating with women out of fear. Only in the recent past have we seen every mainstream institution trying to hire and promote as many females as possible. The reversal of this trend will happen quietly and be largely invisible, because unlike the West, Pakistan has no set quotas for the hiring of women, and corporations are under no pressure to show proportional representation in the workforce....
...Rather than empowering women, these sensationalised allegations will result in more backlash; maybe even a call to return to the culture of the veil.
I am utterly disappointed to see the same people blaming others for doing what they have also done in front of my eyes. I refuse to be a silent witness to shameless denial when it comes to their own sins, yet such ugly display of expression when it comes to others. This is the “hypocrisy” that has and will destroy this very elite, and in the meantime, destroy the chance of justice for those women who have real stories to share for #MeToo.
