- PML-N leader says will not say ‘s’ of sorry; opp stages walkout
- PTI requests CJP to take a suo motu of the ‘filthy, dirty verbal attack’
LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday refused to apologise for his misogynistic remarks about the female attendees of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) rally.
While addressing a session of the Punjab Assembly, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said, “I have withdrawn my statement but will not even say ‘s’ of sorry.”
“Opposition members keep asking me to say sorry but I will not,” Sanaullah asserted.
“I have retracted my statement, but I will not say sorry to anyone,” the law minister maintained.
The PML-N leader questioned, “Do PTI’s social media teams not say anything about our mothers and daughters?”
PML-N MPA Rana Arshad and others from the treasury benches came out in support of Sanaullah during the session, saying that if the provincial law minister was being asked to apologise, Khan’s BlackBerry cellphone mentioned by MNA Ayesha Gulalai ─ who hurled accusations of harassment via cellphone messages against the PTI chief ─ should be investigated.
Sanaullah was asked to apologise for his misogynistic remarks by PTI’s Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed. The PTI leader had said, “Sanaullah uses inappropriate language for our women and does not even say sorry.”
The opposition then staged a walk-out after their repeated demands for an apology went unheard.
PTI SENDS VIOLATION NOTICE TO PEMRA FOR INACTION:
Meanwhile, the PTI sent a violation notice to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) slamming two PML-N leaders for their misogynist remarks.
In the letter sent to PEMRA by the PTI central secretariat, both Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Federal Minister of Water and Power Abid Sher Ali were lambasted for using inappropriate language for the women of PTI and the women that attend their rally
The letter, drafted by PTI spokesperson Andaleeb Abbas, reads: “Two gross violations of Schedule-A [Rules 3(1)(f) of Code of Conduct of 2015 by Punjab Law Minister Sanaullah, while speaking outside the Punjab Assembly on April 30 made comments about the women who attended PTI Lahore rally which were widely criticised.”
It also said: “Abid Sher Ali in a speech made shocking comments about MNA Shireen Mazari which caused public outrage. These comments are so disgusting that by any standards in the world a regulator should have immediately taken an action against them. However, PEMRA has been found wanting on both occasions.”
The letter stated that both statements directly violate PEMRA rules. PTI also listed three demands for penalising the two: PEMRA should charge Ali and Sanaullah for this violation until the charges are decided, TV channels should be banned from giving them press coverage and their participation in talk shows should be banned.
PTI also requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to take a suo motu of the “filthy and dirty verbal attack made by these MNAs on the mothers, daughters and sisters of the country”.
The law minister had said on Monday that female workers who had attended PTI’s rally at Minar-e-Pakistan “were not from honourable families because their dance moves implied where they had actually come from”.
Separately, during a public rally in Lahore, Abid Sher Ali had referred to Shireen Mazari as “tractor trolley” and had stated that he told her that “there is nothing to touch in her” when she had asked him to keep the distance and not to touch her.
Sanaullah’s statement received strong backlash, following which he had released a video statement on Tuesday, saying that he would only apologise if Imran Khan surrendered his Blackberry phone so that Ayesha Gulalai’s allegations could be probed.
Earlier this week, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif had apologised on behalf of his party in this regard.
