LAHORE:
Writer and activist Fatima Bhutto has rightly expressed reservations about Hollywood superstar and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees envoy, Angelina Jolie, for her selective activism on Afghanistan whereas turning a blind eye to other conflicted areas like Kashmir and Palestine. She has blatantly ignored the plight of massive human sufferings.
Angelina through her Instagram post shared a touching letter penned by an Afghan teenage girl who highlighted the fact that Afghans were being forced to seek refuge out of fear and uncertainty in the wake of the Taliban takeover. On the face of it, this comes across as a well-intended noble move. She has vowed to share stories of such distressed people in Afghanistan who she claims have lost their ability to communicate and express themselves freely on social media. However, Fatima Bhutto has a valid objection against Angelina for adopting a one-dimensional approach. She has accused the Hollywood superstar of her selective activism in addressing human rights abuses worldwide, especially in the context of Kashmir and Palestine. The western media has long been building up a negative narrative of the Taliban by using emotional images of crying babies and women clad in burqas. This type of Islamophobia needs to be addressed by western powers who blame Muslims for misusing religion for the purpose of political expediency and women subjugation.
The ground reality in the case of the US fiasco in Afghanistan was adopting a similar liberal posture by showing disdain on the pretext of Afghan women empowerment. Women who do choose to wear a headgear cannot be labeled as regressive either because empowerment means having the authority to choose.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2021.
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