Minar e Pakistan: Women’s Action Forum condemns the incident

The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) has strappingly condemned the attack on a woman at Minar-e-Pakistan, calling it “reprehensible”.

The attack on a woman with many other women at the Iqbal Park on Independence Day has traumatized them to the core, said WAF in a statement made on Wednesday.

“WAF is appalled and deeply disturbed by the deplorable incident at Greater Iqbal Park, (Minar-e-Pakistan) on 14th August 2021 where a woman along with a group of females, was violently assaulted and harassed for several hours by approximately 400 men at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore,”  stated the statement.

The forum declared that the occurrence prompts one of the dreadful facts that women continue to be unsafe in Pakistan, mainly at the communal places in the republic which are “becoming the breeding grounds for harassment violence, and abuse” against women.

“We are horrified by the inhumane behavior the men at Minar-e-Pakistan displayed and that too on Independence Day, which reflects the free reign men in this country possess to behave violently without facing any form of accountability,” read the statement.

Whereas, the WAF pointed out that the occurrence has given an imprint that women cannot appreciate national holidays, nor can they visit any public place.

“Instead, they [public places] are hostile environments that constantly put women at risk,” mentioned the statement.

The WAF has also emphasized that women establish half of the country’s populace but still they are deprived of their rights and are at risk of being beleaguered or hassled.

On the contrary, it stated that the growing occurrences of viciousness against women and public place pestering emphasize the typecast that women are only safest at homes “while the outside world becomes an evil place that is inaccessible to them”.

It also criticized the media for permanently circulating videos of the incident.

“Recirculating such videos under the false narrative of spreading awareness is extremely unethical and fails to consider the effects this will have on the survivor in the long-term,” read the statement.

The WAF insisted the internet users and media be vicarious while conducting such issues to avert the victim from misery as the clips may endure to rendezvous them long after the occurrence.

“Forwarding such clips irresponsibly is forwarding violence online and must be discouraged,” said the statement.

Furthermore, the forum has also strained the consideration of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani, and Punjab Deputy Commissioner Mudassir Riaz Malik, calling them out for their “blatant neglect” of women’s protection in public spaces and deteriorating to have tolerable events in place so such terrible occurrences can be evaded.