Men given licence to get away with sexism, says Sharmila Faruqui on Khawaja Asif's slur

Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Sharmila Faruqui slammed Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for his derogatory remarks against women parliamentarians, saying that “men have always been given a licence to get away with sexism and derogatory remarks”.

In a heated speech during Tuesday’s joint sitting of parliament, the defence minister termed female senators "koora karkat (trash)," "garbage," and "leftovers" of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

"This is the garbage left here, which has to be cleaned. Depraved women should not lecture on chastity," Asif had said, drawing huge outbursts of negative reactions from politicians and commoners alike.

In an Instagram post, the Sindh Assembly lawmaker lamented where politics had reached and termed it a collective failure of the society. In the post, she shared a clip of Asif clarifying his insulting remarks in the National Assembly.

Faruqui said that women in politics work in a “sensitive environment” and have to “face and bear a lot”. She added that it was “easy working in a male chauvinistic society” but it took a lot of “grit and nerves” from women to make it possible.

“Women in any profession excel more than their counterparts who are men not willing to accept that reality,” said the MPA. She added that it “saddens” her every time she hears a “man demeans another woman”.

The lawmaker also believes that “there will never be a time” when she won’t have to condemn such derogatory remarks in the “strongest of words”.

“Any man who demeans a woman is actually insulting his own mother and daughter. Period,” said the PPP MPA.

'Not gender specific': Asif clarifies 'garbage' remarks

Earlier today, Asif clarified his stance insisting that it was nothing "gender specific".

After the Senate passed the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2023, the defence minister was allowed to speak about his discriminatory remarks.

He said that PTI Senator Ali Zafar had objected to the passage of bills on Tuesday, saying that the government was bulldozing the laws.

“I referred to the night when 54 bills were passed in one or two minutes; the people [involved in it] who have done the same should not lecture us on it.

“To dilate this, I made a remark which did not have any gender specification in it. Absolutely not,” Asif said.

He said it was “their” choice if they wanted to see his remark in the wrong context, stressing it was “not a gender-specific remark” on his behalf.

The minister went on to say that when it comes to gender equality in the house, the men parliamentarians never protested the remarks made against them. “If they claim gender equality, then they should tolerate such references.” 

Hearing this, the opposition members again protested and demanded an apology from Asif.

When Asif was again allowed to speak, he said that he would add only one thing the PTI chief had passed derogatory remarks against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz as well. “I’ll apologise if they apologise for what their leader said about Maryam Nawaz.”

He reiterated, it was not a gender-specific remark, and it should have been heard or read in the correct context.

“I did not make any remark against the women. There were men parliamentarians sitting over there but they didn’t see that these remarks were for them as well,” he said, adding that the remarks were directed collectively towards the entire opposition’s presence.

He said that the remarks were wrongly branded as gender specific.