![Custom Text](https://bolojawan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/New-top-banner-add-04.jpg")
On October 20, 2019, Pakistani filmmaker Jamshed Mehmood, commonly known as Jami, took to Twitter to let the world know about his traumatic rape ordeal. In those tweets, Jami recounted the whole experience, how it happened and how it “destroyed” him. In those 280-lettered sufferings, Jami didn’t name the perpetrator but dropped numerous hints about the powerful man who had assaulted him 13 years ago.
On December 28, 2019, Jami mustered the courage and publicly named his alleged perpetrator, Hameed Haroon.
Hameed Haroon is the CEO of the Dawn Media Group and is one of the richest and most powerful people in the country. So, in the aftermath of those tweets, the vast majority of notable journalists and media personalities, in order to save their own a**es, went silent. Jami was branded as an “establishment” stooge who wanted to destroy Dawn’s credibility. Instead of support, Jami was met with overwhelming media censorship.
Recently, Jami appeared on Bolo Jawan’s podcast, Naya Pakistan vs Purana Pakistan in which he discussed how his life had been affected by speaking up against his alleged powerful attacker.
From #MeToo to self-censorship and the sirens of morality police, Jami raised quite a lot of thought provoking issues which need to be dealt with. The interview, in itself, is filled with harsh truths and reality checks about our society and – at least for me – is reflective of a man who’s willing to give everything for his cause.
Being a male Pakistani, watching Jami’s interview was an eye-opening experience and these are some of the thoughts that have occupied my mind ever since.
We are in a serious need for an active and ever present suicide prevention center.
The rate at which our people are committing suicide is increasing alarmingly and we have to do something about it. Jami had his wife to support him through thick and thin, he had his mother to confide in. If he hadn’t had these people beside him, God knows what he would’ve done to cope with the trauma he had to go through.
#MeToo is as real as it gets. At the same time denying the victim his/her right to speak or seek justice is something that happens far too often in our country.
Those of us who dare to speak out against these heinous acts are met with maddeningly absurd questions that are beyond all forms of rationality. It’s always safe to resort to victim blaming and God know this needs to STOP!
Aristotle once famously said, “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Such was not the case with Jami.
When he reached out to his friends for support, nobody came to his aid. When he cried and pleaded for help, nobody stepped forward, apart from one or two acquaintances. Him and his family fought all the battles alone and are continuing to do so. It makes me shudder to think that if someone as well-known as Jami cannot garner support from within his community, there’s little hope for the rest of us.
What bugged me the most while watching the interview was the realization that Pakistan Penal Code doesn’t acknowledge that a grown man can be raped!
I mean, hello big fellas who make our laws(!) – are you seriously that misogynistic? Does it hurt your masculinity to think that an adult like yourself can also be raped? For the sake of the survivors who urgently need the rape law to be amended, please, grow the f*** up! The law making authorities must take this matter into account ASAP and acknowledge the fact that a man can be raped and does get raped in this country!
The way Jami’s story is being censored across the board puts a huge question mark on the integrity of Pakistani journalism.
When Jami publicly named his alleged rapist, stories of Jami working for “the establishment” to bring the alleged perpetrator’s (read Hameed Haroon’s) media house, Dawn, to the ground, started doing rounds on various media platforms.
Big media houses being called out for salandar and even blackmail is not something unheard of. In this case, they’ve linked Jami to the establishment because why not? They have an ongoing dispute with some of the state institutions so why not use that premise to shove an explosive rape story under the carpet?
This blatant censorship is hurting our struggle for a freer, more vocal society and it hurts to know that the flag-bearer of freedom of speech in Pakistan, Dawn is at the heart of this censorship!
It’s 2020 and people are still asking survivors how they “allowed” the rape to happen?!
For the people who’ve been asking Jami why he didn’t fight back then and how someone almost twice his age allegedly raped him: do you think it’s easy fending off a powerful man with rape on his mind? Do you think a simple, “No” would stop such monsters? Step out of your little bubble of morality and try using that pea sized thing you have in your head for once, would you? Do some basic reading on reflex reactions such as “freezing in shock” that scores of rape survivors experience at the time of assault and if you still have trouble believing, just do us all a favour and stop harassing survivours with your spiteful nonsensical views!
We’re all hypocrites…
We, the urban middle class brand Mullahs for their sexually vile behavior as if its their exclusive turf. We conveniently turn a blind eye to the fact that people from the educated too, rape women, rape men, rape children, rape the elderly, rape animals and rape even the dead! And when someone comes out with his/her story, we are as much guilty of victim shaming as our less fortunate counterparts.
My rant can go on forever but if I were to conclude it, I’d really like to end with this plea: let’s please give more power to the brave survivours out there rather than forcing them into a lifetime of traumatic silence with our victim blaming and indifference.
True
Comments are closed.