Women are being raped: Resham highlights ‘bigger problems’ after admitting to pollute flood water

On Monday, a video of veteran actor Resham surfaced online that saw her throwing meat and bread from the top of a bridge overlooking a large water body to feed the marine life. The clip immediately went viral because along with all food for the fishes, she threw in polythene bags, wrappers and plastic utensils as well.

The video was picked up by bloggers lauding her for her “kindness” until several pointed out how catastrophic her actions could be for the aqua world. While the clip was temporarily removed from various platforms, Resham offered a justification for her actions.

In response to the flak that she’s garnered on Twitter, among other social media apps, Resham, on Tuesday, contested that there were more alarming issues to worry about. “I admit to having made a mistake by dumping plastic into the flood water but women are gang raped everyday,” The Friday Times quoted her as saying.

“Violence against women is commonplace, yet, everyone’s blinded by a piece of plastic. They are dwelling in a fool’s paradise. I was merely offering sadqah (charity),” she went on. While presenting her “unconditional apology,” she also blamed Covid-19 for having clouded her judgement. “I tested positive for Corona twice and I happen to be absent-minded because of that.”

The actor revealed that she lost her only brother some time ago too, and so, she’s been struggling with mental health issues. The celebrity, however, asked why her lapse in judgement was causing such a ruckus when clearly, untreated waste is dumped into the sea on a daily basis and industrialists are not held accountable for it. “Why am I getting this special treatment for something I did out of absent-mindedness?” she probed.

“I am in Charsadda as we speak. I have been quietly helping thousands affected in the calamity-hit district. But of course, people are only interested in trolling me. I do a lot of good too,” she pointed out. “I have an enviable, 600,000 people following me just on Facebook. That’s more than enough publicity for me. I feed hundreds. A great deal of what I make is spent on this but people will only comment on that video,” Resham noted.

The Naagin star has been trending on Twitter with numerous users sharing her clip and calling her out for dumping plastic into flood water, that too, on camera, despite being a public figure, and an educated one at that. From asking officials to charge her for this “criminal offence” to schooling her about the irreparable consequences of her “kindness,” people have been flooding to the micro-blogging site to bring attention to her “good deed.”

Singer Meesha Shafi and actor Armeena Khan, without mentioning any names, condemned throwing groceries and plastic shoppers, trays into a river, irrespective of the "pure" the intentions.

Meesha tweeted, “Distributing aid on camera to victims of horrific floods caused by giant climate change calamity right after throwing groceries and plastic shoppers, trays into a river (also on camera).” Armeen wrote, “Don’t throw plastic into rivers and oceans folks. For the record, the road to hell is also paved with good intentions.”

Activist Shaniera Akram shared the viral clip on her Instagram stories and asked, “And who throws meat and plastic containers into the flood affected river, [that too], on camera?” Users said the video “boiled their blood” and that they expect better from “educated” and “influential” members of society.

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