Daily Times

Lahore: The Panama Papers petition in the Supreme Court has generated quite a lot reprehensible commentary, frequently bordering on sexist and homophobic, on social media by prominent leaders from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its archrival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

On Monday, PTI deputy secretary general Imran Ismael’s posted a tweet condemned widely by the Twitterati including those who claimed to be members of the party and die-hard fans of the party chief.

Posting in Urdu language, Ismail compared former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ouster, third time in a row, to the wedding ceremony of the latter’s daughter Maryam Nawaz. While Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz could not send off her daughter to the in-laws’ house after the ceremony she had seen her husband sent packing thrice from the Prime Minister’s House, he held.

Twitter user Sohail Khanzada? responded, “There is a reason why PTI Karachi leadership has failed miserably in Khi. Imran Ismail sb, stop cracking jokes & start doing work,” tweeted another user.

Journalist Abbas Nasir? responded, “PTI putting its best foot forward. Shudder to think what the worst would look like.”

“Didn’t expect this tweet from you! Sad!!,” exclaimed anchorperson Sadia Afzaal.

When contacted, PTI leader Andaleeb Abbas refused comment on the issue, saying she wasn’t aware of Ismail’s statement.

Prominent among PML-N leaders who resorted to inappropriate posts was the party’s youth wing head Abid Sher Ali. A day before Ismail’s tweet, Ali had posted an image of a woman with PTI chief Imran Khan’s face photoshopped on it. The sexist undertone of the post was too obvious to have been missed by careful observers.

Speaking to Daily Times, PML-N MNA Maiza Hameed refrained from clearly condemning Ali’s conduct on social media. However, she said political leaders needed to be careful with the content of their posts on social media. “The message goes out to the masses including our young voters,” she said.

Hameed said that the PTI’s cyber team had set the trend of abusing opponents on social media. She said party supporters on social media also often provoke their leaders to be aggressive. However, she added, the leaders needed to show restraint.

Analysts note that there was much to be desired in terms of propriety in public speech and expression in the country, particularly when it comes to references to people’s gender and sexuality. They say misogyny is deep-rooted in Pakistan’s politics and the practice of making derogatory remarks based on gender against female opponents remains common. They urge all political parties to come together to develop a code of conduct in this regard.

Published in Daily Times, August 2^nd , 2017.