New Delhi: In a rare show of strength among the media fraternity in Pakistan, several journalists and publishing houses have come out strongly against a sitting chief minister. They are demanding an apology from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Ali Amin Gandapur for his disparaging remarks on media and female journalists during a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rally in Islamabad Sunday.
While calling for support for Khan, Gandapur called the journalists “sellouts” who don’t write about the establishment’s attack on PTI because they are paid and “have sold their pens to the government”.
Journalists covering the National Assembly staged a walkout in protest against the attack on female journalists.
“In a male-dominated world, female journalists find it difficult to work, and Pakistan is no different. Politicians like Ali Amin Gandapur use dirty tricks to demoralise and intimidate female journalists so that their hooliganism, nepotism, and corruption can continue,” Pakistani journalist Arzoo Kazmi told ThePrint.
The CM was criticised by rights organisations like the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and journalist organisations, including the National Press Club (NPC), Karachi Press Club (KPC), and the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ), which strongly condemned the use of vulgar and offensive language.
Journalist and senior columnist Naila Inayat called Gandapur “a true successor of Imran Khan as he carries the politics of misogyny forward”.
“There is little surprise on the vile comments Gandapur made this time against journalists at large and women journalists in particular. He has, in the past, made several sexist comments about Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, calling her ‘beauty a miracle of plastic surgeries from taxpayers’ money’ and telling people she is your ‘maal(property)’. Nothing better can be expected from Gandapur who was also accused of parading an orphan girl naked back in 2017,” she added.
Other journalists have spoken up as well.
“The comments by CM Gandapur were not off the cuff but premeditated. Imran Khan actually put him in the position to be abrasive and abusive. As a true demagogue, Imran likes the same type of characters. Abusive, misogynistic behaviour is an essential part of the PTI DNA. Since Gandapur was under attack from the rival factions within the party so he had to be extra abusive to earn Imran’s trust,” said former IB minister Murtaza Solangi.
A history of derogatory remarks
In its recent editorial, Dawn criticised Gandapur’s offensive comments made during a PTI rally where he used derogatory language and innuendos to belittle Maryam Nawaz.
The editorial condemned this blatant misogyny as a deliberate attempt to undermine the status and contributions of women in public life.
“This strategic dollop of misogyny aims to belittle women’s position and work, police opinions and erode their stature and participation in the public space whereby a woman’s contribution to society becomes indiscernible. The fact that politicians deploy brazen sexism and use chauvinistic and offensive language is troubling; it sanctions misogyny and discrimination”, the editorial read.
Although PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan issued a formal apology in the National Assembly, the newspaper also expressed serious concern over reports that Imran Khan, the party’s jailed founder, defended Gandapur’s comments. Khan, in an address from jail, asserted that the KP CM had voiced the “sentiments of the nation” and dismissed those distancing themselves from Gandapur’s remarks as “cowards,” suggesting they should leave the party, Express Tribune reported.
This is not the first time Gandapur has been involved in such controversies.
Gandapur, as Dawn pointed out, “wears his chauvinism in his sleeve” and made disparaging comments about Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz earlier in April.
“Make no mistake: Ali Amin Gandapur’s misogynistic remarks against Maryam Nawaz and women journalists are representative of PTI’s conduct whenever it is in power. May this party of misogynistic bullies never rule Pakistan again,” journalist Ailia Zehra wrote on X.
In his opinion piece in The Friday Times, Omar Quraishi wrote that while the PTI managed to draw a huge crowd, “the primary thing that it will be remembered for will not be Imran Khan nor the public support for his immediate release from jail. Instead, it will be remembered mostly for the uncouth, uncivilised and very improper remarks of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur against his counterpart from Punjab and also against journalists in general”.
The Sindh Assembly Tuesday condemned the CM for his inflammatory remarks and passed a resolution urging the Election Commission of Pakistan and other relevant institutions to take strict action against the PTI and its leaders. While even Jamaat-i-Islami lawmakers backed the resolution introduced by Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Sadia Javed, three PTI-SIC members present in the assembly opposed the resolution and expressed full support for Gandapur’s controversial remarks, with one of them even referring to the KP Chief Minister as a ‘lion’, Dawn reported.