ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari on Saturday protested against Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah for verbally abusing human rights activist Marvi Sirmed on a TV talk show.
Raising the issue during a National Assembly session, Mazari urged lawmakers to take notice of incidents of abuse against women.
“Raised Marvi Sirmed issue and condemned JUI-F Senator in NA this morning! But PML-N women MNAs shamefully continuing to belittle abuse of women,” Mazari tweeted.
Human rights activist Marvi Sirmed was allegedly assaulted by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader during the recording of a TV show at a private news channel on Friday. Soon after the incident, Sirmed tweeted about it. “I have just undergone a very traumatic experience at a News One programme (Nadia Mirza Show) when Hafiz Hamdullah of JUI-F got angry,” the woman activist said.
Describing the incident, Sirmed said, “On a comment by Barrister Masroor. On my turn, I started by saying ‘I agree with Masroor sahib to the extent that’ and here Hamdullah went on and on with his rudeness.”
But, according to the columnist, when she responded to Hafiz Hamdullah in the same manner, he vent out his outrage at her by using abusive remarks and even called her a “whore”.
On Wednesday, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif ridiculed Mazari for her appearance and voice, referring to her as a ‘tractor trolley’. And surprisingly, he stubbornly refused to apologise for his tactless taunt.
However, on Thursday, Asif submitted an unconditional apology for his derogatory comments but the opposition rejected his excuse as he failed to mention Dr Mazari by name.
Third day into the controversy, Dr Mazari asked Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to take up the privilege motion she had moved the other day. She also warned the government she would expose the issue in the entire world through the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (WPC).
Source: http://paktribune.com
Updated On: 12 June, 2016