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  • 2022-10-27 (xsd:date)
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  • Video shows Pakistani writer criticising activists, not Pakistan PM's niece over dead journalist tweet (en)
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  • False posts viewed hundreds of thousands of times have shared a video they claim shows a Pakistani soap opera writer criticising politician Maryam Nawaz -- niece of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif -- after she tweeted a controversial remark about a Pakistani journalist who was shot dead by police in Kenya in 2022. However, the video shows a speech that the writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar gave in 2020 where he spoke against a female academic and women's rights activists. The video was shared here on TikTok on October 26, 2022. It has been viewed more than 90,000 times. The 31-second clip appears to show Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar criticising an unnamed woman while admonishing anyone who supports this tweet. The superimposed Urdu-language text translates as: Khalil-ur-Rehman's response to Maryam Safdar's (Maryam Nawaz) tweet on Arshad Sharif. Screenshot of the false post. Taken on October 27, 2022. Journalist Arshad Sharif, a vocal critic of Pakistan's powerful military establishment, was shot dead in late October in Kenya in what officials described as a case of mistaken identity, AFP reported . Sharif had fled the country in August over fears of sedition charges and his death caused widespread speculation in Pakistan that he may have been targeted for his views. The false posts circulated after Maryam Nawaz, vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) that heads the current ruling coalition, responded to the killing with an insensitive tweet that she later deleted, Pakistan's Dawn News reported . The video was viewed more than 200,000 times in similar posts on YouTube , TikTok , Twitter and Facebook . However, this video does not show Qamar criticising Nawaz and there have been no official reports that he has publicly condemned her tweet. Speech against activists A keyword search for Qamar criticising women found a longer video with matching scenes published here on YouTube on March 8, 2020 by Dubai-based media platform Azaad News. Khalil ur Rehman Qamar Speech on Women (sic) Day, the English-language title reads in part. The clip in the false posts corresponds to the 29-minute 26-second mark of the longer video. In the longer video, Qamar criticises women's rights activists for allegedly being anti-Islamic and references a tweet by Pakistani academic Marvi Sirmed where she parodied a popular national slogan. Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) with the longer video (right): Screenshot comparison Qamar made headlines at the time for making alleged misogynistic remarks against Sirmed during a television debate over the annual women's day marches, known as Aurat March, AFP reported . While appearing on a television panel to discuss the upcoming march, Qamar took aim at its slogan, My body, my choice. He told Sirmed that no one would even spit on your body -- adding she was a cheap woman who should shut up. Qamar's tirade targeting Sirmed quickly went viral, highlighting Pakistan's acrimonious conversation around women's rights and cultural values. (en)
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