A tweet by the former Pakistani Ministero of Human Rights Shireen Mazari inflamed the web

06/04/2022

Nicola Costantin

Pakistan and Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

The former Pakistani Minister of Human Rights, Shireen Mazari, dropped a controversial tweet as an answer to Aurat March, a human rights movement that fights for women's rights. (Hasan, 2022) On the 3rd of April, the Aurat March condemned on Twitter “the political circus that has erupted due to the fragile masculine ego of a person [the actual Prime Minister, Imran Khan] who has sabotaged democratic processes just to save the perception of his individuality and to stage a dirty maneuver for his comeback to power” (Aurat March, 2022). 

Immediately, Mazari stormed back saying that "this [statement] shows Aurat March has little to do with genuine issues faced by women in Pakistan and more with politics and political agendas” (Mazari, 2022). She continued by alleging that many NGOs “are funded from abroad” and the statements of these NGOs against the government are an operation by the US to seek a regime change (Mazari, 2022). 

Remarkably, this declaration inflamed the debate on the web, asking why the politician seemed to think that women, and especially movements related to women's rights should not have political opinions (Dawn, 2022). People twitted back with disappointment underlining the role that Shireen Mazari covered.  Moreover, others did not expect that a former Minister of Human Rights could have delegitimized one of the most organized women-based movements in the country with a “conspiracy theory” (Dawn, 2022).

Instead, human rights organizations are intrinsically and by definition tied to politics. Human rights demands are an affirmation of social, economic and political progress within a society It can be said that politics and human rights are two faces of the same coin, mostly when many of the problems faced by women in society have political roots, as in Pakistan. 

Sources.

Aurat March, @auratmarch - عورت مارچ. 2022. “We condemn the political circus that has erupted due to the fragile masculine ego of a person who has sabotaged democratic processes just to save the perception of his individuality and to stage a dirty manoeuvre for his comeback to power”. Twitter, April 4, 2022. https://twitter.com/AuratMarchKHI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1510687223590567946%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1189864.

Dawn (2022). Do politics not concern women? PTI's Shireen Mazari seems to think so. Dawn.Com. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://images.dawn.com/news/1189864/do-politics-not-concern-women-ptis-shireen-mazari-seems-to-think-so.

Hasan, S. (2022). Slogans, expressions and visuals of Aurat March discussed. Dawn.Com. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.dawn.com/news/1683249/slogans-expressions-and-visuals-of-aurat-march-discussed.

Mazari, @Shireen Mazari. 2022. “This shows Aurat March has little to do with genuine issues faced by women in Pak & more with politics & political agendas. Since many here have NGOs funded from abroad this statement while condemnable is not surprising. Fact is the US sought regime change & we do not accept it”. Twitter, April 04, 2022. https://twitter.com/ShireenMazari1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1510913908172722177%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1189864.