When female politician, 31, accuse the
cricket-star-turned-opposition-leader Imran Khan of sexual harassment, the venom
unleashed against her was unmatchable vicious.
As if Khan’s public denouncement and demand of PKR 30
million in compensation for damage to his reputation and “mental torture” was
not enough, the trolls took it on them to insult Gulalai in a way that reeked
of misogyny.
Gulalai is Pakistan’s youngest parliamentarian and the first
woman from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to hold such office. Following
Gulalai’s accusations, social media users did not spare even her younger
sister, Maria Toorpakai Wazir, a famous squash player! She has also received
death threats for playing in shorts and without a headscarf despite of her
inspirational and courageous story of defying Taliban and representing Pakistan
on international platform.
On social media, some said Gulalai, should have acid thrown
in her face, others that she should be whipped. She was called a liar and a
carpetbagger. Mocking TV hosts asked, smirking, if she actually wanted to marry
the man she accused. ‘You are shameless doing press conference, giving interviews,
biggest liar, with a filthy tongue wicked and a shame to Pakhtuns,’ a comment
on social media said.
The backlash against Gulalai is evidence of the abuse
reserved for Pakistani women who venture to speak out publicly against
harassment – abuse that is now increasingly taking place online. 75-80% of
social media users in Pakistan are male, making women an online minority. In a
study of 17 Pakistani universities, the Digital Rights Foundation found that
34% of surveyed women had experienced online abuse or harassment by men.
In a country where hundreds of women each year are murdered
in so-called honour killings, such public debasement of women carries real
danger. In 2014, the cricketer Halima Rafiq died, in what her family said was
suicide, after accusing a top cricket official of sexual harassment.
While some people have questioned the timing of Gulalai’s
claims. She came forward days after Khan succeeded in his campaign to oust
Nawaz Sharif as prime minister on corruption charges in July, leading some to
accuse Gulalai of taking money to defend Sharif – a charge that remains
unproven. If it is unfair to believe an allegation, it is also unfair to doubt
Ayesha Gulalai and call her names.
Bushra
1130 hours
Sunday 24 September 2017
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