Daily Times

Who would have thought that one of India’s most prominent journalists and now union minister, M J Akbar, would be brought down by a group of women?

In the last two weeks, as many as 20 women have accused Akbar of harassment. The first one to blame him was a senior journalist Priya Ramani. Akbar has since then acquired the services of India’s top lawyer and filed a defamation case against Ramani. When the news of this defamation case came out on the social media – people wrote and spoke in Ramani’s favor. Since the charges are very severe, criminal proceedings will follow against Akbar and the others accused of harassment and other (alleged) sexual misconduct. The BJP and Modi government, where Akbar was an influential figure, are largely quiet about the issue given the angry public mood and the impending general election in 2019.

However, one is forced to wonder if this is possible in Pakistan. Can a powerful Pakistani minister, or a private sector honcho be ever brought to his knees for sexual harassment?

Feminist academic Farzana Bari’s 2016 co-authored paper entitled “Unmaking political patriarchy through gender quotas” entailed interviews of many sitting parliamentarians from almost every mainstream political party. Nearly every woman parliamentarian complained that sexual harassment was rife and they faced it within their party. Worse, many in political parties or other groups either side with the accused or stay silent at such behaviour.

The memories of the slut-shaming Ayesha Gulalai faced last year for accusing Imran Khan of sexual harassment are still fresh.  It is easy to insult women, and the hired PR companies or social media wings of political parties hound these women with nasty comments, unflattering photos, and derogatory jokes. In July 2018, when Imran Khan won the general elections, several jokes at the cost of Gulalai were re-circulated online. The social media swiftly becomes a tool to snub women, opponents or accusers. One reason why women like Meesha Shafi and Ayesha Gulalai failed to get a much positive response from the mainstream media was that our public, by and large, holds the women at fault for any sexual harassment, assault or misconduct by men. Hopefully, this will change, and our society will recognises sooner than later that harassment is simply unacceptable and is a crime that ought to be prosecuted.  *

Published in Daily Times, October 18^th 2018.