Punjab and K-P ministers’ recent statements have once again lent credence to this perception
KARACHI: It is no secret that ministers in Pakistan have not only proven time and again to be incapable of performing the duties given to them but more often than not they also prove that they are unfit to be politicians or active decision-making members of society. Some Punjab and K-P ministers’ recent statements have once again lent credence to this perception.
Earlier, soon after the Kasur child rape case, one of the Punjab government’s ministers openly held the parents of the eight-year-old girl-child responsible for her rape because they had left her at home while they went to perform a religious pilgrimage. Though this idea of victim-blaming was called out by activists, the minister had not apologised for his remarks. Not to be left behind K-P government’s spokesman Shah Farman blamed the so-called ‘Westernisation’ of society for such ills. Talking about the recent rape case of a four-year-old girl-child in Mardan, he said these incidents take place in Western countries and owing to our taking to Western ways has led us to facing ‘child sexual abuse’.
This goes on to show how illinformed is not only Shah Farman but other ministers too, as according to PTI lawmaker Shaukat Yousafzai, both Kasur and Mardan incidents were overhyped despite being shameful. Perhaps for Yousafzai, only things relating to his party chairman are worthy of being hyped even if it’s about his marriage plans. One can only imagine what the affairs of the state would be if the PTI forms the next government.
For the betterment of the country and its citizens, it is time that all ministers and lawmakers were schooled on these issues. A country can only progress through a progressive government.
Ramsha Jahanzaib
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2018.
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