Since the news of a woman's assault at the Greater Iqbal Park in Lahore on Independence Day broke on TV channels and media outlets, many prominent figures and celebrities took to the social media to condemn the incident and call for justice for the female TikToker.
While many people are expressing their deep outrage on the tragic incident, a number of internet users have begun victim blaming and questioning why the woman was at a public park on Independence Day. Ali Gul Pir might be a comedian, but had a very serious response to these victim blamers.
Famed Pakistani comedian and social media personality Ali Gul Pir has stepped forward with a very serious response to such victim blamers as he made it loud and clear that there is no justification for the Minar-e-Pakistan incident.
Sharing his stance on the situation, the Wadera Ka Beta singer took to his Instagram Stories on Friday and shared a clip, where he explained how the female Tiktoker is a victim, despite the controversial stories.
"If we accept [your theory] that she went for a TikTok meeting, if we accept [your theory] that the guy with her was her boyfriend, and we accept that the next day she posted a picture in which she looked happy, even if we accept all that, all your theories, what those 400 men did was wrong, was a crime and was horrible," he began.
"That doesn't change. Whatever justifications you give, that she was dancing or whatever she was doing, what those people did was a crime, only a morally corrupt person could do this. Those people should be punished, there should be no ifs and buts."
He went on to urge people to stop justifying assault on women around them. "'Why did she go there, Minar-e-Pakistan, a girl, shouldn't have gone there'. Is Minar-e-Pakistan your drawing room? It's a public place. For citizens. For Pakistanis. It's not just for criminals and boys. Minar-e-Pakistan isn't a den of prostitution right?" Gul Pir said.
"'Don't go there'. Then where should they go? Don't go in public, don't go there, don't go here. Then where?" he asked, rightfully questioning the shrinking number of safe public spaces for women.
The Mera Jism Meri Marzi singer narrated his personal experiences of attending concerts in the 90s and revealed that men have always been ready to 'molest and harass' women.
"And I witnessed this myself. Fifty to 200 men used to attack couples. They would beat up the guy, tear off the girl's clothes, molest her and harass her. Then the police would come, beat them up and they ran," he said, adding that he had seen this four to five times at concerts.
"It was happening then. It's part of our society, this ting has been happening in our society for a long time. You've seen a video of it [the Minar-e-Pakistan assault] and now you're aware but this was happening even back then," he reminded his followers. "Let's correct it, no more justifications. If someone justifies this in front me, I don't want to talk to that guy. Ignorant people," he said.
Speaking on how men are trying to justify the actions of the mob of 400, the comedian urged people to stop taking a hit on their egos and collectively work towards the protection of women in the country.
"They take it as a hit to their ego. 'This talk that's going on, it's hit my ego, they're talking about men, so I should justify it'. Just shut up! Just stop! Let's kill the ego and rectify it."
"When you hear jokes or comments being made about it, stop them. Tell them it's wrong," Gul Pir implored. "Condemn those people, isolate those people, educate those people! Let's make it into a solution rather than an ego thing. 'I didn't do it bro, not all men', [explicit] that shit. Let's just fix it, let's make this society better. Simple."
