Other side of the picture

Letter September 06, 2018
A final-year student of English department at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University has accused chairman of harassment

SUKKUR: A final-year student of English department at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Nawabshah, has accused the department Chairman, Amir Khattak, of harassing her for six months. According to the chairman, he had only scolded Farzana Jamali because she didn’t attend classes the entire semester and informed her that he would not allow her to sit for the exams. Allegedly, Farzana’s father then came to the university and threatened the chairman with dire consequences if he didn’t let her sit for the exams.

The following day, Khattak and his brother were brutally beaten by 12 unknown persons. The chairman lodged an FIR against Farzana’s father, leading to his arrest. A day later, Farzana accused the chairman of harassment, at a press conference.

While investigations are still going on, the insults hurled at the chairman’s ethnicity is shameful. One of the persons commented that Punjabi and Pathans should be kicked out from Sindh. There are so many other people who are too biased to think about this issue objectively.

Sindhi people are very well known for their hospitality. Is it our hospitality that we are mistreating the chairman by calling him a Punjabi or a Pathan? There are so many teachers in Sindh who are from other provinces and honestly perform their duties. What impression will they get if we show such a biased behaviour towards them? Narrow-mindedness should be discouraged.

Sindh recorded 1,643 cases of violence against women in 2017 alone. We should have a positive attitude and should not see things from a narrow perspective.

Insharah Shabir

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2018.

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