Shehbaz Sharif apologises for anti-women remarks by PML-N leaders

LAHORE: PML-N President and Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday apologised for misogynist remarks made by leaders of his party against female workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Rana Sanaullah, reacting to the PTI’s April 29 Minar-e-Pakistan rally, had said that “the women who attended the rally were not from honorable families because their dance moves implied where they had actually come from."

"We have to maintain decency and element of respect in political discourse," wrote Shehbaz. "I apologise for anti-women remarks made by some party leaders."

However, Sanaullah refused to tender an unconditional apology for his questionable misogynistic remarks regarding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s female workers.

The minister, in a video statement today, said that he would only apologise if Imran Khan surrendered his BlackBerry phone over Ayesha Gulalai’s allegations.

In response to Geo News' anchorperson, Muhammad Junaid's tweet that condemned disrespectful and misogynist behavior towards women, the Punjab chief minister's Strategic Reforms Unit (SRU) wrote: 'There is no justification for anti-women remarks."

"There can be no possible justification to target women due to any political or other animosity."     

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Murad Raas earlier today had submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly condemning provincial Sanaullah’s remarks. The resolution called for Sanaullah’s immediate dismissal from the Law Ministry and demanded an apology over his ‘derogatory’ remarks towards female participants of a PTI rally in Lahore on April 29.

Sanaullah is not the only Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader who has drawn ire in the past few days over his misogynist remarks.

Pakistani lawmakers and rampant misogyny

Federal Minister Tallal Chaudhry, at a separate press conference, had said: "We don't ask whose house you [Imran Khan] stay at when you visit London. It is another matter altogether what you do over there. When it comes to your wife, she remains veiled, but our mothers and sisters are for display?"

A third PML-N leader, Abid Sher Ali, issued derogatory remarks against PTI's Shireen Mazari while addressing a public gathering in Faisalabad on Sunday night.

Abid Sher Ali said that while Mazari was protesting against Finance Minister Miftah Ismail's budget speech in the National Assembly, she had said: "Don't touch me."

"What is there to touch?" he asked the crowd.

After the comments sparked a backlash, Punjab government spokesperson Malik Ahmed Khan condemned the remarks.

"Be it Abid Sher Ali, Rana Sanaullah, Tallal Chaudhry or Imran Khan, I cannot tolerate this as these women are our mothers, sisters and daughters," Malik said while speaking to a private news channel.

"Irrespective of their political affiliation, [such derogatory language] should not be used against those mothers and sisters who come forward to take part in the political process," he added.

Shah Mehmood slams PML-N leaders' misogynistic comments against party women

However, despite his condemnation, the Punjab government spokesperson held PTI chief Imran Khan responsible for the remarks saying he has started a culture of “using bad language”.

Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, who also belongs to the PML-N, condemned the ministers’ remarks on Twitter.

"Disrespectful remarks about women are reprehensible, regardless of who utters them,” he said.