KARACHI:
On Monday, Yasir Hussain and Frieha Altaf among many big names of the industry gathered at the Karachi Press Club in the wake of the horrific motorway incident. The who's who of Pakistani showbiz industry came under one banner to protest against the alarming rise in abuse-related crimes in the country. The attendees included names such as Sarwat Gilani, Adnan Siddiqui, Mahira Khan, Ayesha Omar, Ali Rehman Khan, Aijaz Aslam, Maheen Khan and Bushra Ansari among others.
However, not everything went as planned. As soon as celebrities started arriving at the venue, members of the transgender community who were already protesting were asked to move away by media personnel.
The community and activists involved in the protest had assumed that the popular names will protest with them to highlight a bigger issue of abuses that go beyond a single incident or segment of society, they were in turn sidelined and felt belittled.
“We were first asked to evacuate the area for celebrities, and then the shouting by media teams reporting the event turned into cussing and we were left clueless,” trans community leader Zehrish Soomro, who was present at the protest told The Express Tribune.
“When the community leader Bindiya Rana herself tried to control the situation by trying to buy some time she was categorically told that our protest will not be covered now that the celebrities have arrived,” Soomoro recalled.
Bindiya Rana, Executive Director of Gender Inactive Alliance and a pioneer activist shared that initially, even she thought the celebs would be joining the trans community protest but that didn’t happen "The main reason for all of us to come together was to raise voice against the increasing violence against the oppressed in the society, against the influence, against the harassment, against the killings, rapes and other horrific forms of abuse,” Rana told the publication.
“The only difference was we were there before and were getting a bit of coverage. When the celebs came in, everyone started moving towards the other side of the road where they were planning on staging the protest, I kept asking the attendees to come back to the front. I then came to know that the press and the media were focused on the celebs, but this isn't news to us. If there were 500 of us, and Meera comes in, then people will look at her."
She went on to add, "I'm very good friends with Sheema ji, and I was invited to the protest but we do get disheartened. Once our protest was finished and I saw Sheema take the stage, I stood with them."
Muhammad Moiz of Shumaila Baji fame also attended the trans community protest and was present at the venue in solidarity. "The trans community was protesting before the celebs came in. The press was asked to sideline them and move to the area where celebs were standing for pictures,” Moiz told The Express Tribune. “I personally went to Frieha Altaf and asked her to come in and stand in solidarity with the trans community, but she was busy clearing the road for more celebs to roll in," he recalled.
Moiz added that the celebs never joined in and showed support to one protest, staged under the same banner to make noise against the abuse. "They went on to carry on with their own protest. Few members of the trans community that you see in the pictures are those who went and stood their themselves. They weren't invited, they weren't asked to join in. If anything, they were given cold shoulder."
However, PR mogul and organiser of the celebrity protest, Altaf, categorically denied all such claims. "I speak for the entire fraternity and we knew about the transgender community's protest. This was always about combined efforts,” Altaf told The Express Tribune.
“We stand with the trans community and I even contacted Kami Sid about the same. She informed me that she had to travel to Larkana, and directed me towards another Trans leader, Saadia. We were all protesting against the same issues. These are just baseless rumours,” said Altaf. She also explained that they [celebrities] had scheduled their protest for 5 pm because they wanted to start after the Trans community’s protest, which was scheduled from 4 to 5.
Altaf also deemed these claims by activists who attended the protest a desperate attempt to malign the efforts made by the showbiz community. "I will not be bullied into this," she said. "It is very easy to play the blame game. We were all there to support each other. We were all chanting the same slogans. Whatever is being conspired, I will not tolerate it!"
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