Will this ever end? Harassment has now become a serious issue in Pakistan and it seems like some men have no shame at all. No matter what their age group is, they simply have no respect for women who are out on the streets; minding their own business. More and more women who have been harassed are now choosing social media to let their voices out to raise awareness against such filthy acts. Kudos to them and more power!

Recently, another case of harassment surfaced on the internet where a girl in Karachi was harassed while walking on the street when she was on her way to pick up her nephew from his school nearby her house. On her way to the school, an old rickshaw driver (old enough to be a grandfather) muttered some filthy words to her in Urdu and the girl simply ignored him. However, having no shame at all, the old rickshaw guy made sure she heard him, drove past her and repeated the same thing…

Here’s what happened:

Dear friends, this is a rant about sexual harassment; might be a trigger for some, but this is an issue we need to start addressing – the sooner the better.

A couple of days ago, I was walking to pick up my nephew from school since it is pretty near to our house. It was mid-afternoon, the time schools usually get off. I was on a pretty busy road in KAECHS, lots of houses and schools along the side as well as Tipu Sultan police station. I was just walking, minding my own business and passed a parked rickshaw. The driver, old with white hair and a white beard – which is supposed to be synonymous with piousness, mind you – decided that I was an easy target and muttered “check out those breasts” in Urdu. I didn’t really catch it and thought maybe I was mistaken and had misheard him, so I ignored him and kept walking.

But apparently that wasn’t enough for him. He probably wanted to make sure that I had heard him, so this vile human – old enough to be a grandfather – drove his rickshaw past me and after I had walked a few more metres, took a U-turn on the road ahead, came facing me, reduced speed and drove by me – pretty much invading my personal space – looking at me and very audibly repeating the same thing he had said before! I was so angry by that point that I threw a rock I had picked up earlier at him and grabbed his rickshaw from one its bar forcing him to brake.

When I confronted him with the same words he had said, he began yelling at me. Things like “you are lying,” “why would I say something like that,” “you are crazy, I never said that”. When I raised enough of a hue and cry, some men started gathering around. I still didn’t let go of that damned rickshaw so that shit excuse of a human wouldn’t get away. Seeing the men around, the rickshaw uncle became even louder. “I am 65 years old”. “You are my granddaughters’ age”. “Have some fear of God, why would I even say such a thing to you. Why are you lying”. “I was just asking her if she needed a rickshaw, I don’t know why she is accusing me of this” he told the men. Zero shame or remorse on his face. ZERO.
This went on for a good 10-15 minutes before I forced him to apologise and then let him go.

But the shameful thing in all this is that all the while I was confronting the despicable old man with his own words, instead of taking him to task, telling him off or even offering to take him to the police, these men who were there watching the “show” and trying to settle the matter only urged me to “let it go,” “consider his age and let him go” or “you’re being disgraced by this, bas karden, baji”. Never once did they raise their voice at their fellow man or even threatened him or even think about his izzat, but they were quick to tell me that somehow my izzat/honour would be affected and not the honour/izzat of the man who thought he could comment on my body and just get away with it!!!
These fucking double standards are why the women in this country continue to face violence, harassment and violation of their privacy and bodies at the hands of so-called men who have no honour!

This isn’t the first time I have been harassed on the street. Some would say, being a woman, harassment comes with the territory and we should ignore it and move on. No!! Why should we stay quiet? We haven’t done anything wrong. It is the harasser’s fault and they should face action.
Writing all this down made me relive the memory and made me sick to my stomach, but I truly feel like enough of us women have to raise our voices to make them loud enough to be heard in roads and in the assemblies.

My fellow women, I urge you not put up with street harassment anymore. Be loud, call out these assholes, shame them, repeat their words – being squirmy only helps their cause, be aggressive, be adamant, be confident, reclaim your space. You have as much right to be in public spaces as men. Also encourage women in your families to do the same. Talk to your domestic help and urge them to do the same because I can guarantee you that they face harassment a LOT more.

To men, please don’t just do lip-service by saying you respect women. Show that you do. When you catch yourself indulging in such behavior, stop and think about the psychological effect your action is leaving on the woman. If you see your friends doing it, stop them. If you see a woman being harassed or yelling at a man for harassing her, step up, not for the man but for the woman. Believe me, no woman makes such things up!!

Remember, today it is some random woman on the street, tomorrow, the same man or another man could be doing the same to a woman in your family! 
This needs to stop. And it will only stop when start talking about it.

Extremely shameful! Suzanna’s plight may sound familiar as many girls have become a victim of such harassment, but now is the time to take some serious actions against these filthy men! Her ending note is what every girl and guy out there needs to take note of and start implementing this, or else, we’ll be responsible for our messed up society.

To all the girls out there, let’s not sit quiet and teach these harassers a lesson they’ll never forget their whole life. Together, let’s bring an end to this. It is time to be aggressive and show them the power of women.

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