Harassment has become increasingly common on the streets of Pakistan.

It seems like we’re hearing more and more about such incidents as time passes, especially those of men masturbating on the streets to women. Most of the time, men tend to get away with whatever they do as women fear that standing up against them will cause further damage.

However, as of late, women are taking charge. Like Shahtaj Qadir, for example, who is a student at Karachi University.

Shahtaj and her mother were returning home from her relative’s house.

Since Careem and Uber were unavailable up North, the women decided to use a rickshaw to get home. It was around 12 am when Shahtaj realized that the driver had slowed the rickshaw down.

He explicitly eyed her breasts from his rearview mirror and that’s when Shahtaj saw him move his hand off the rickshaw handle and into his shalwar.

He had allegedly started masturbating. Shahtaj told her mother what was happening and asked her to stay calm while they looked for a police station in order to switch rickshaws. They made the driver stop near Nipa and immediately got out of the rickshaw.

Shahtaj, unable to control her disgust, asked the driver how he could possibly to that. Of course, he denied the accusation saying, “Baji, kia hoa? Meine tou kuch nahi kia.” 

His unbelievable behavior, coupled with his nonchalant lies pissed off Shahtaj. She held the driver’s collar and started hitting him on his face and chest.

When she tried to get back in the auto to beat him up more, he pushed her away and drove off into the night.

As proof, she recorded a video while sitting in the rickshaw.

We asked Shahtaj about what ran through her mind as this happened.

“I guess it was scary but I go through these kinds of things every day now. I’ve started to carry a knife (more like a chaakhu) and a pepper spray with me at all times in case of any physical harassment. Initially, when I was 12, this stuff would really make me panic. However, now I try to stay calm and think of solutions instead of letting the fear get to me.”

People expressed how incredibly proud they were of Shahtaj.

Some friends also tried giving her advice in case this sort of harassment ever happened again.

Here are a few pieces of advice Shahtaj thinks would help women in cases of harassment.

• Make sure you don’t panic if you see a man masturbating near you. I know it’s ugly but try to stay calm
• If possible, take a video or a picture of the pervert. Note down the number plate of the vehicle if you get a chance to
• Politely ask him to stop the vehicle near a busy or crowded area such as parking lots, shopping malls, marts, bus stops, police stations
• Now that the pig is exposed to the public, he is under your control. Kick him, beat him up or yell at him to gather a crowd. Just don’t let him get away so easily.

Truly, women like Shahtaj inspire others to take action in the face of harassment. Here’s hoping this serves as a warning. What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments.

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Cover image via traveller.com.au