motorway incident
Image Source: The News

Yesterday, the motorway incident caught us all off guard. I am not going to compare it with the Zainab incident or the incident of an infant or a dead body. No. There is no comparison. Neither am I going to call out on people who didn’t stand up back then but are standing up now. Suppose they realized that they need to participate in this now, well and good. God knows we need them.

Lahore Motorway Incident

And amid that sad, depressing tragic news, we came across Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore’s statement, where he indicated that the victim was to be blamed for this. He mentioned that the victim should have made a better route decision to avoid this. And she would have been able to prevent this.

Victim-blaming by CCPO

Following this statement, Umer Shaikh came under huge backlash from Pakistanis all over twitter. People couldn’t believe his statement, which blamed the victim. They went as far as, and rightfully so, to say that victim-blaming equal supporting rapists. After a whole day of this backlash, CCPO Lahore made yet another comment. From his side of the arguments, it may have seemed that he was clarifying what he meant. But in reality, he aggravated the public even further.

He said that the victim had a foreign mindset. Her family was in France, and so was her husband. She made decisions as if she was in France. And that was the mistake on her part because Pakistan is not like that country. Because France has the laws for safety, the laws there are enforced, and that is why a woman can go out at 4 am. But we, Pakistanis, would never allow our daughters or sisters to go out at midnight.

Enablers of Rapists?

After the statement was heard, the anger of Pakistani people further intensified. According to them, he was publicly announcing his incompetence. If he couldn’t ensure the enforcement laws, what was the purpose of him? The twitter handle @Mohtermalaila frustratedly said that it was this behavior by law enforcement that the ratio of this crime does not go down.

The Character Report

In the meantime, @alirazaoff extracted CCPO’s character report. Real or not, the report lists him as financially and morally corrupt. And, according to the report, he was capable of misusing the power for personal goals, which includes bribery and gratification.

With these statements, the angry Pakistanis started demanding the removal of the CCPO. The hashtag #RemoveCCPOLahore trended on Twitter. People were even directing Usman Buzdar’s attention towards the troubling statements.

We will have to wait and see if the removal happens or not because will we honestly trust someone who made victim-blaming remarks with our safety? I, for one, will not even if he apologizes.

Stay tuned to Brandsynario for more news and updates!