After PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Friday evening issued an objectionable statement against PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz during his Multan address, politicians, journalists, and civil society members have censured Khan for his “sexist and misogynist” comments.
During his jalsa, Khan, referring to Maryam’s Sargodha rally on May 19 in which she continually berated him, said: “Someone had sent me the speech delivered by Maryam Nawaz in Sargodha yesterday.”
“In that speech, she uttered my name with such passion that I would like to tell her: Maryam, please be careful, your husband may get upset because you were constantly repeating my name.”
Following his comments, condemnations started pouring in from politicians and civil society members on social media.
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif
Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, who also happens to be Maryam’s paternal uncle, expressed strong disapproval of Imran Khan’s statement and said that the entire nation, especially women, should strongly condemn the “deplorable language used against the daughter of the nation Maryam Nawaz.”
Your crimes against the country and the nation cannot be hidden under your lowly humour. How could those — who cannot respect the sanctity of Masjid Nabawi (PBUH) — be expected to respect the honour of someone’s mothers, sisters, and daughters?”
He continued: “Imran is the first person in history to fall into this abyss of rudeness as the leader of a party. His party went out to make a nation but spoiled the morals of the people instead. To Allah, we belong and to Him, we shall return.”
Asif Zardari
Censuring Khan for his statement against the PML-N vice president, former president Asif Ali Zardari said that he condemned the derogatory language used by the PTI chairman.
“Those who have mothers and sisters in their homes do not use such language against other women,” the PPP co-chairman said. “Please, do not stoop so low in the name of politics.”
He added that every person’s mother, sister, and daughter was worthy of respect and that was the message of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto to the nation.
“I wish someone would also write a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan based on personal observation and he would take notice of the matter,” he said.
Marriyum Aurangzeb
Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, taking to Twitter, also condemned Khan’s statement and said that the coalition government was trying to save the mothers and daughters of Pakistan from “this evil.”