Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari has doubled down on her view that men’s entry to public spaces needs to be controlled. She had earlier tweeted after filmmaker and journalist Sabin Agha had recounted her own experience of harrassment in a public space. Agha had stated that around 100 men had attacked her in a manner similar to the recent incident at Minar-e-Pakistan.
As a debate grows across Pakistan on how to make public spaces safer for women, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari joins prominent voices who weighed in on the matter. She earlier tweeted:
Another harrowing experience – witnessed by police who refused to help despite their ability to call for back up as well as use weapons to disperse crowd. Trusted to help & instead complicit. Men should be banned from public spaces. We need more women to safeguard women. https://t.co/kIqDE3KSYa
— Bakhtawar B-Zardari (@BakhtawarBZ) August 21, 2021
Thereafter, as discussion on social media intensified, the daughter of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari emphasized in a further tweet that she stood by her position. She further clarified:
Re my tweet banning men from public. I stand by it. Single men should not be allowed out without being escorted by sisters, mothers, wives or daughters – perhaps then they will think twice before assaulting women. With repeated & increasing incidents of assault no better option.
— Bakhtawar B-Zardari (@BakhtawarBZ) August 23, 2021
