And here come the trolls.
So, we all know who Kashmala Tariq is, right?
She’s a former parliamentarian and is now serving as the Federal Ombudsperson for protection against Harassment of Women at workplaces. Recently, a statement by her caught the attention of many on social media.
While addressing the audience in Rawalpindi, Kashmala Tariq asserted that sending good morning texts to women is also harassment
She added to her statement by saying that constantly asking someone out for tea is also harassment and also said that sexual assault cannot be categorized as the ‘only’ form of harassment because other types of harassment vary.
Federal Ombudsperson Kashmala Tariq has a new definition of women harassment https://t.co/nJk3e6kY89
— Times of lsIamabad (@TimesofIslambad) March 19, 2019
While Kashmala re-defined harassment for the audience, people couldn’t really get over the good-morning texts wala part, LOL
Good morning everyone except kashmala tariq.
— Fawad (@FaadAjs1) March 20, 2019
Offering tea to cross gender comes under harassment – Legendary Kashmala Tariq. Good going ma’am!! #WomensDay
— Muhammad Hani (@muhd_hani) March 19, 2019
Raat Chandni Mei aur Tu hello good morning how do you do 😂😂😂 #KashmalaTariq #nogoodmorning
— Shahana Khan (@BeingSNK) March 20, 2019
Lo bhaye girls tm log 'good morning' greetings se bhi gayi 😂😂#kashmalatariq #harassment
— Talha Ali (@OyeMrHot) March 20, 2019
Hamain tou pehlay b nai ata #GoodMorning msg 😒 pic.twitter.com/ZhaGUoxIrB
— Säbä (@sabarai01) March 19, 2019
Only Good-Night is acceptable to Kashmala Tariq & that’s also only from Khawaja Asif (Jo Aye).😛 pic.twitter.com/mY5HGIZqXB
— Sadaf Khan Nawaid (@sadafnawaid) March 19, 2019
Its ridiculous comment by kashmala tariq that deserve to be trolled👺
— ❌anti-racist❌ (@ZymshahS) March 19, 2019
Lol @ the mask emoji.
Later, Kashmala responded to the trolls by clarifying that she was referring to ‘unwanted good morning texts’
She further said that media should not highlight one line which is being taken out of context.
I said unwelcoming n unwanted text messages n stalking on social media is also harassment. And then I gave examples. Media shall not take just one line out of context pls.
— Kashmala Tariq (@kashmalamna) March 19, 2019
And while that is a true statement to make, harassment is a very serious matter and she rightly pointed out that harassment has many forms.
Kashmala has openly addressed the issue and has also encouraged women to stand up for themselves by lodging complaints online at harassment centres. She also instructed men to give space to women to ensure that both the genders can mutually work to attain progress. The official said that the institution is not just limited to the complaints by women and the men can also bring their complaints regarding harassment.
Unfortunately, these trolls on Twitter wrongly emphasized on the ‘morning texts’ which kind of distorted the message being conveyed. Harassment SHOULD be taken seriously and it needs to be addressed to safeguard the rights of women and to ensure that they don’t compromise on their dreams because of any such issues.
What’s your stance regarding the issue? Let us know everything in the comments below.
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Cover photo source: arynews.tv