The Islamabad police registered a First Information Report on Saturday against a man after a video of him threatening a woman with a gun and verbally abusing her went viral on social media. Officers at the Ramna Police Station say the footage is old and the suspect is currently in China. In the video, the man is seen waving a pistol at the woman and hurling abuses at her while she begged for forgiveness. The man has been identified as Wasif Abbasi. The case was filed at the Ramna Police Station in Islamabad by a friend of the woman’s. The woman says that Wasif Abbasi fooled her and wanted to marry her. When she refused to meet him, he threatened her. When she found out he was already married, she refused to meet him, igniting his anger. When she cut off communication with him he began threatening her life. Now she is too afraid to go to university. Social media users in Pakistan have questioned state of women rights and their safety in the country after the video went viral. Visibly shaken and frightened by the intimidating posture of the furious man, the woman falls on her knees and meekly denies the charges against her. The woman’s entreaties fall on deaf ears as the gun man hits her in the groin with the weapon while unleashing a torrent of expletives. Presence of another man and woman could also be felt from their voices in the video. Although there has been no clue yet as to where the incident took place, some social media users have claimed that it happened in Rawalpindi. After being shared by a large number of people on Facebook and Twitter, the video has caught attention of some senior journalists too who have called on the authorities “to take notice of the barbarism”. Published in Daily Times, December 16th 2018.