Instead of commiserating with Ayesha Akram, the victim of the Independence Day outrage, perhaps we should be thanking her. I mean, if the shikras who assaulted her had not been distracted, they would have probably been out on motorcycles, executing wheelies, and getting killed. Instead of attempting to gain independence from life, they showed their independence of any shame or good manners.
And there is much that TikTokers are guilty of, much that they deserve, but those are all offences against good taste, and surely they do not deserve such punishment as was given to the poor girl. Which among those assaulting her could put their hands on their hearts and swear they have never made an unfortunate post on social media?
Perhaps one reason for the incident was the police. Certainly, the suspension of the DIG (investigations), among others, indicates that the Lahore police was doing something wrong. Maybe the cops were blaming Ayesha Akram for not having filled her car’s tank. Or having worn insufficient clothes. One misses the former CCPO Lahore, Umar Sheikh, for not being around for some good old-fashioned victim-blaming.
Some of the comments on social media seem driven more by anger at not having been there rather than at the event. The PM is lucky not to be accused, and is probably relieved that the incident occurred in Lahore, not Islamabad. He may be regretting his decision to let people phone in on him, after Ayesha got him, and let him have an earful. She wanted to be protected while exercising her right to celebrate Independence Day the way men do. Unfortunately, men, as I said, seek liberty from life. Is that right to be protected?
However, in one respect, the episode proved that we are in the digital age. If there’s no video going viral, it didn’t happen. The incident may well have involved hundreds of people on Independence Day. But no one knew about it until the video went viral. Only then did the PM, the CM and the police get into action.
Another thing that emerged is that there’s safety in numbers. No one person has been charged, unlike Bob Dylan, the rock star who was given the Nobel Prize for Literature for his lyrics, who has been sued for sexual abuse, committed back in 1965, by a woman who was only 12 at the time.
One effect of that charge has been to make the rapper R Kelly a front-runner for a future Nobel Literature Prize. He has been accused of, among other things, child pornography and kidnapping. The Swedish Academy itself, which decides the winner, awarded the 2018 Prize the next year, because of a sex-abuse scandal that year that had made it impossible for it to function. Dylan’s 2016 prize had it made possible for rappers to dream of the award. But now it seems one has to have charges laid against one.
While there was so much concentration on the Minar-e-Pakistan incident, another nearby event almost slipped under the radar, the attack on the Ranjit Singh statue outside the Fort was attacked. I’m not sure what the motive was. The statue was not torn down, which would be one motive borrowed from the USA, where they’ve been tearing down the statues of confederate generals. Or was the protest against any statues at all? Or did the protester want to say Ranjit Singh was never maharajah? Or was it a slightly late protest against his having ruled?
It might have been better to protest against the fall of Kabul. I’m a little surprised that no one has thought to blame Nawaz Sharif for everything. I mean, everyone is repeating that the Afghan National Army melted away because of corruption. Can there be any corruption without Nawaz?
That depends on a closer look at the First Test against the West Indies. Why did Pakistan lose by one wicket to one of the weakest teams in the game? And why did Shaheen Afridi take eight wickets? That showed that the West Indian team had no consideration for Imran Khan’s future. And why did the team lose just as India won by 151 runs against England? Obviously, there had been dirty work at the crossroads, and not only is Babar Azam clearly an Indian agent, but he’s also working for Nawaz, which is the same thing.
Cricket is in the news somehow. Nawaz’s grandson and Maryam’s son is going to get married to Saifur Rehman’s daughter. Yes, the same Saifur Rehman who won the name Ehtesabur Rehman after heading the Ehtesab Bureau in Mian Nawaz’s second tenure, and then Cricketur Rehman when he was appointed head of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
