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Updated August 23rd, 2021 at 21:27 IST

Pakistan bans entry of women TikTokers to park as a solution to prevent mass molestation

TikTokers will have to take permission from the concerned PHA for the entrance in parks, the statement issued by Punjab Parks and Horticulture Authority stated.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Pakistan
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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In a resolution to stop the crime against women, Pakistan’s Punjab Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) on Sunday banned the entry of female TikTokers to Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park in Minar-e-Pakistan. The move came after the gruesome incident wherein a woman shooting a TikTok video was molested by a group of 400 men. Reportedly, the appalling event was underway in presence of the victim’s six other friends who had accompanied her to the park. The woman was brutally groped and assaulted.

Pakistani officials on Sunday, however, held the woman responsible for the crime inflicted by the alleged group of assaulters. The victim had registered a formal complaint to the law enforcement authorities at the Lorry Adda Police Station and alleged that her attire was shredded by the mob. In the footage, that caused worldwide fury and angst, Pakistani men were seen descending on the unsuspecting young woman while she was making a reel. An FIR was registered under sections 354 A, 382, 147, and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code. 

According to Pakistan’s ARY News, PHA’s decision was made by high-level senior officials in Lahore on Sunday. According to reports, all TikTokers will have to take permission from the concerned PHA for the entrance in parks, the statement issued by PHA on August 22 stated. In the incident, Lahore Police detained 130 people, of whom 40 were identified after the video started circulating on social media. Pakistani cops released 70 perpetrators saying that Prime Minister Imran Khan will be briefed about the sexual assault against the female TikToker. 

“The crowd pulled me from all sides to such an extent that my clothes were torn. I was hurled in the air. They assaulted me brutally,” the woman had said in her statement to the police. Further she complained that her cellphone, money, earrings were snatched.

Pakistan’s information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, in his response to the incident, said that arrests were being made. “Prime Minister has taken notice also,” he told reporters, without detailing the actions that the government might take against the assaulting mob. Although, the infuriated women on Pakistani Twitter demanded urgent police action against all the men involved. Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said that the gory incident must “shame every Pakistani” and that it “speaks to a rot in our society”. The incident was condemned by actress Mahira Khan and singer Farhan Saeed, among many others.

“Damn I’m sorry.. I keep forgetting - it was Her fault!! Poor 400 men.. they couldn’t help it. And then they just remain that - a social media trend. No justice, no nothing!!” Pak actress Mahira Khan wrote on Twitter. 

Pak PM says women wearing 'few clothes have an impact on men'

In his remarks earlier about the surge in violence against women in Pakistan, Imran Khan said in an interview, "If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. It’s just common sense.” His statement drew criticism from all quarters as the Pak PM went on to add, that it is “cultural imperialism” that causes sexual assaults on women. “Whatever is acceptable in our culture, must be accepted everywhere else. It's not.”

A legal advisor with the International Commission of Jurists in Pakistan, Reema Omer, derided Khan for his victim-blaming stance. "Disappointing and frankly sickening to see PM Imran Khan repeat his victim-blaming regarding reasons for sexual violence in Pakistan Men are not ‘robots," he tweeted. “If they see women in skimpy clothes, they will get “tempted” and some will resort to rape, Shameful,” he wrote. 

(Image credit: AP)

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Published August 23rd, 2021 at 21:27 IST

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