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‘Not gender specific’: Khawaja Asif clarifies ‘garbage’ remarks

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1 year ago

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  • Kh Asif says his remark “did not have any gender specification”. 
  • Minister says it was “their” choice to see his remark in wrong context.
  • He says he will apologise if Imran does for remarks against Maryam.

Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Mohammad Asif, who found himself in the centre of a controversy — not for the first time — for the derogatory remarks towards the women parliamentarians, clarified his stance on Thursday, saying that it was nothing “gender specific”.

In a heated speech during Tuesday’s joint sitting of parliament, the defence minister termed the 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 outburst of negative reactions from politicians and commoners alike.

Today, after the Senate passed the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2023, the defence was allowed to speak in reference to 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,” he added.

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,” Asif said.

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.

After this, the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani ended the debate by saying that the minister had clarified his stance.

However, the PTI senators walked out of the House in protest of Asif’s remarks. 

Sherry Rehman ‘sorry’ for not stopping women’s insult

Following the outcry over Asif’s Tuesday remarks, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman said, she “would have intervened to stop women Parliamentarians from being insulted,” if she had listened to the debate inside the house.

“Of COURSE I was not smiling at the remarks. That was about how pleased I was at the consensus I got in cabinet for the climate plan, which took many nights to get done. Had I heard the remarks of course I would have intervened. My bad,” she wrote on Twitter. 

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Imran Khan’s bail request in the Toshakhana-II case has had its objections dismissed.

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In the Toshakhana-II case, the Islamabad High Court has dismissed the objections to PTI founder Imran Khan’s bail request.

IHC instructed the registrar’s office to schedule the hearing for the case for Monday.

Imran Khan’s attorneys, Shaheena Shahab, Ayesha Khalid, and others, arrived in court today as IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case.

The registrar’s objections to the plea were questioned by Justice Aurangzeb. In the Toshakhana-II case, Imran Khan submitted a bail application, according to counsel Ayesha Khalid.

Justice Miangul said that previous rulings in circumstances comparable to this one adhered to the consistency principle. In this instance, the petitioner was a man, he added.

Bushra Bibi was given bail because she was a woman, according to the justice, and an application like this one was denied yesterday.

Given that the case action date was November and the power of attorney was executed in July, Justice Aurangzeb raised a concern about the timing.

Justice requested the help of Advocate Shah Khawar in this case.

When an applicant was held in jail, Shah Khawar retorted that it was standard procedure to obtain signatures on required documents, such as a power of attorney.

Imran Khan’s attorney, Shaheena Shahab, asked the court to send out notices regarding the bail plea. A judge named Aurangzeb said that the law would be observed.

Following arguments, the court dismissed the registrar office’s objections and ordered that the case hearing be scheduled for Monday.

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PTI presents seven nominations to Imran Khan for the judicial commission.

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2 days ago

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has proposed seven individuals to its founder, Imran Khan, for consideration as founding members of PTI for membership in the next Judicial Commission.

None of the nominated individuals are attorneys; rather, the roster includes four Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and three senators.

The proposed MNAs are Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Ali Mohammad Khan, and Aamir Dogar, while the senators are Shibli Faraz, Mohsen Aziz, and Aun Abbas Bapi. Sources suggest that the Judicial Commission will include one opposition member from both the National Assembly and the Senate.

The PTI founder will evaluate and endorse two names from the suggested list, which will then be sent to the Speaker for future actions.

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Miller confirmed that Biden’s administration got a letter from a congressman requesting the release of the PTI founder.

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3 days ago

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Following his removal as prime minister in 2022, Khan started a protest movement against a coalition of his enemies led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Since then, he has been in jail since August 2023 and has been involved in hundreds of cases.

In response to ARY News’ question over the congressmen’s letter during a media briefing in Washington on Monday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “We will respond in due course to the members.”

The United States wants to see Pakistan maintain its democracy, Miller stated.

The release of the PTI founder’s wife and sisters was a result of a meeting between the US Deputy Assistant Secretary and a Pakistani government representative in Islamabad, which was further questioned during the press briefing.

“I won’t be addressing that,” Miller said when asked if the United States was involved in their release. Miller did, however, affirm that the conference included the defense of Pakistan’s basic liberties and rights.

Sixty-two members of the US Congress urged President Joe Biden on October 24 to support the release of Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, and other political prisoners.

The congressmen, who included well-known Muslim members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, said in their letter that the Biden administration should ask Pakistani authorities to guarantee the safety of PTI founder Imran Khan.

They also underlined that US policy should concentrate on Pakistan’s human rights situation and asked that US ambassadors attend the PTI leader’s incarceration.

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