CM Maryam backs 'tit-for-tat' response to assault incidents in Punjab

• Advised victims to respond to assault in kind: Punjab CM.
• CM Maryam says "governing through fear" not governance.
• Multan incident continued to haunt her, says CM Maryam.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday advocated a tit-for-tat response to assault incidents across the province, saying she had advised victims to respond to such attacks in kind.

Addressing an Hon'haar scholarship and laptop distribution ceremony at a university in Mandi Bahauddin, she said that offenders would not be spared even if they belonged to her own party.

She also criticised governing through fear, saying, "Governing through fear is not governance; keep one principle and remain consistent."

Referring to a fatal incident in Multan in which a man ran over an orphaned teenager, she said the incident continued to haunt her.

The Punjab chief minister also referred to cases involving violence against a woman riding a motorcycle and an assault at a petrol pump.

CM Maryam was referring to video footage showing a man overtaking a female scooty rider on a busy road in Lahore, placing his bike in front of her two-wheeler, and subjecting her to brutal torture.

Police arrested the accused with the help of footage and data from dozens of cameras operated by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA). However, a court in Lahore ordered that the suspect be released if he was not wanted in any other case.

In the second instance, a man had assaulted a petrol pump employee at a Jubilee Town filling station.

According to reports, the suspect — who was at the petrol pump to get a refill — was asked by the salesman not to smoke on the premises.

However, the suspect came out of his SUV and allegedly thrashed him before fleeing the scene.

Meanwhile, the Punjab chief minister reiterated that the provincial government now stood with the "oppressed", saying she was not concerned about which case might be registered against her in the future.