Call for accountability: Hadiqa Kiani, Ahsan Khan among others speak out against bullying
A bullying incident at an elite private school in Lahore has left social media users in horror and dismay with many rallying against the entitled attitudes of teenagers coming from affluent families. A video of the incident that has now gone viral, sees four girls gang up against a classmate over a drug abuse dispute to torture and humiliate her.
The clip sees the bunch pulling her hair, hurling abuses, kicking, throwing punches and forcing her to apologise. The Defence police lodged a criminal case against the students on Saturday, after an FIR was registered upon the complaint of the victim’s father. Three students have since been granted interim bail by a local court.
Since the clip spread on social media like wildfire, numerous celebrities have been calling out the obscene behaviour at display in an attempt to raise awareness against bullying. Singer-actor Hadiqa Kiani, while shedding light on the same, urged parents to get involved in their children’s lives and the government and educators to implement a stricter protocol to protect kids.
“Parenting, mental health, drugs and alcohol, abuse, school surveillance, safety, elitism, power, trauma and so much more. There is so much to unpack with the way our society raises protects criminals while silencing victims,” she tweeted.
“My heart breaks for most parents are delusional and voluntarily ignorant about what is happening in their children’s lives, many are unknowingly causing severe trauma to their children that they in turn regurgitate into other innocent children in even more extreme ways,” added the Boohey Bariyan crooner.
Hadiqa reminded her followers of every bullying incident that goes “unfilmed”, to urge, “We can’t let this go on any further. Talk to your children, get involved and parent them with love – protect your kids and make them strong to handle the world. At the same time, I urge our government and educators to come together to put in place strict protocol to protect our children! I wish I had more concise thoughts at this time and will hopefully speak more on this issue soon but it all boils down to our system and parenting.”
Several others shared the video on their Instagram Stories to demand strict action against the minors.“Bullying is not cool, not cool at all!” lamented Yashma Gill. “When will our kids learn that? And so many bystanders?” she questioned. “Oh my God! This is another level. The blue hair needs punishment, I don’t know what is wrong with this generation, this will affect that victim’s brain for the rest of her life,” commented Ghana Ali under a post reporting Yashma’s statement.
“Spawns of the entitled! Paisa phaink tamasha dailkh…” lashed out veteran actor Simi Raheal. “Everything is for sale in this country. And the people who have money, raise these kind of spawns who know that whatever they do will have no consequences. Dad’s money and mom’s network will allow these babies to go scot-free,” she added.
Sharing the news of bail, actor Ahsan Khan commented, “Okay so the victim would keep running around to get justice as always…”
Filmmaker Wajahat Rauf shared, “It would be a shame if this violent act goes unpunished and if this is forgotten after two days of news cycle like every other incident in Pakistan.”
Actor Zhalay Sarhadi also took to her Insta Stories to condemn the act. “Absolutely disgusting behaviour! This needs to be condemned and the girls in questioning along with their parents should be taken to task.”
Actor Sana Sarfaraz felt this was another reason to not have kids. “In today’s age, despite sending them to the best schools, this is what you get in return! This school scarred a girl along with so many others that have gone unreported. I don’t care why this girl is being abused. Whether she was refusing to consume alcohol or promoting it. None of it should be the reason for anyone to beat her up!”
Singer Ali Zafar on Saturday also wrote an entire thread about why bullying needed to be addressed while sharing his own experience."Just saw a video of a girl being bullied. I don’t want to share the video because no matter how bad the act was, I feel that those girls (the bullies) need a fair chance in life to learn and become better human beings; however, the issue of bullying needs to be addressed," he wrote in a thread on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
"I think at some point in life we have all felt bullied as it comes in different shapes and forms. My first remembrance of being bullied was in NCA, on the day of my admission interview. I came from a middle-class background and I had brought big paintings I had made as portfolio," Ali said.
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