Originally published here NayaDaur
After the unfortunate demise of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s political stage witnessed an unspoken emptiness. BB Shaheed’s presence in national politics was flagbearer of not only democracy but also representative of the women of Pakistan.
We cannot deny the fact that only women of significance have been able to reach the pinnacle of Pakistani politics. Yet, we also cannot ignore that nothing was served to them on plate. From Fatima Jinnah to Benazir Bhutto, all of them tasted the power of patriarchy and anarchy.
With the arrest of Mian Nawaz Sharif in 2018, we saw the sudden ascension of his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif (MNS) in PMLN which made everyone raise their eyebrow.
The name of Maryam is not new and has been used repeatedly in past by opposition to bring dirt to PMLN and her father, equally. Her new-found position in the national political sphere has put everyone on alert inside and outside PMLN.
MNS is not just a pretty face, or daughter of Mian Sahab, or wife of Captain Safdar!
She is a 45yr old woman, holding MA in Literature from Punjab University. MNS, in all these years have handled her family’s philanthropic work and stayed as prime face for Sharif Trust. Back in 2017, she was among the BBC’s 100 Women, and by end of the same year got featured on The New York Time’s 11 Powerful Women Around the World.
Maryam Nawaz is indeed a power and an identity of her own.
Her political career took its first flight in 2011 and later in 2013, she became in-charge of her father’s political campaign for general elections. During all these years, she remained low-key until her name appeared in Panama Papers, and all hell break loose!
It is not like the first time a female politician is facing character assassination. The only difference is this time we will also have social media and keyboard warriors to raze her down to ashes against the sitting power.
Over the last 70 years, Pakistan has seen an ethical downfall across the board but with the help of social-bots and paid campaigners we have reached the ethical demise of our country.
MNS has been slandered on her marriage with Captain (R) Safdar in one the most brutal manners where her even her children were not spared. Ruling party supporters made sure everyone get to know how Pakistan treats its women nationally and internationally, both.
As a nation, our understanding of private and family affairs is almost null.
Hence, our youth and not-so-youth decided to dig MNS pictures from her daughter’s wedding and ridiculed her for adorning herself. They went as far as calling her “buddhi ghorri laal lagaam” which roughly translates that a woman after certain age should not be wearing red.
Socially, we are accustomed to age-shaming and have normalized it in our daily life. Often, I hear people using the word “Aunty” as a shameful prefix.
When it comes to Maryam Nawaz, they shamelessly started a twitter trend identifying her real-life status of Naani i.e. grandmother. I must not forget that this trend was brought to you by another Pakistani woman, Veena Malik. Following in her footsteps, many other embarrassing trends took place on Pakistani Twitter.
2019 has been a houseful of internal misogyny; courtesy women taking a character dig at Maryam Nawaz.
Did all this character assassination and age-shaming pushed Maryam Nawaz back from the political forefront? Did it break her morale?
No. A big no.
She belongs to a hard-core political family, with Kashmiri blood running in her veins. This is not the first time, a woman in Pakistani politics has to rise and fight for her father. History, probably not repeating itself in similar fashion but definitely saving some lessons for Maryam Nawaz.
Today’s bold and brazen press conference by PMLN, led by MNS, displayed the authority that she holds and power she possesses. Through her poised and charismatic demeanor, MNS has proven everyone wrong and brought herself to the front stage of Pakistan’s political opposition.
Keeping the differences aside, we as a nation should welcome Maryam Nawaz and wish her all the strength and courage against hard core male-dominated politics.
“May the force be with you, woman!”
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