Daily Times

Remember when a video of over 400 men brazenly assaulting a Tiktoker had taken the country by storm? Rightly called the last straw, it terrified citizens all over. If a woman could be stripped at a public place in broad daylight, ironically on the day those living in the land of the pure beat the drum with patriotic zeal and fervour, was there anything left to fight for?

An overdramatic turn has, however, made the tragedy into a Bollywoodesque script, which would have left the audience begging for more. The alleged conversation between Ayesha Akram with her just-as-emphatic accomplice Rambo sifts through an extortion plan. Crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s, the two sounded like well-connected members of the movers and shakers gang. Streets apart from the inconsolable duo quacking in their boots as they had recounted their ordeal in a viral interview.

As #AyeshaAkramExposed is coming into vogue, the woman at the centre of the saga now cries for help in the wake of death threats. Come what may, the twisty and twirly episode has brought a bad name to Pakistan, already suffering from backlash over being the sixth most dangerous country for women. No qualms about that! Ours is a society inherently fixated on victim-blaming whenever anyone dares talk about facing a similar predicament. Such botched-up plans are bound to take their toll on the #metoo movement. Though building momentum on social media, the global campaign was met with a lukewarm response in Pakistan. For those busy tooting, the horns of its debilitating impacts on social structure, Ayesha’s case must have come as a hail mary pass. The door reluctantly being opened to the acknowledgement of gender-based crimes might bolt shut. There has already been a widespread pushback to the tiniest crack in the window that enables a frank discussion on taboo topics.

Meanwhile, the fact that we as a nation switched from no-questions-asked support to a downright smear campaign in the blink of an eye is a rubber stamp on our gullibility. One round of heart-wrenching visuals on Twitter serves as a trigger for the entire country. Harassment of women has become a routine matter across the country. And this is speaking about the fortunate few. Others have to brave the Damoclean swords of rape, domestic violence and/or murder hanging over their heads. Ergo, an extreme reaction from those internalising the menace of toxic mentality can be understandable.

However, things become a little too spicy when those supposed to carry the torch of journalistic objectivity also hop aboard the naive bandwagon! *