I'm genuinely annoyed by the unrealistic argument that has surfaced recently about the Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, wearing a police uniform on Police Day, with people calling her a psychopath and labelling her with various mental disorders. This is a ridiculous argument that has persisted over the years.
Pushing a political narrative is one thing that helps a democratic body to breathe, which is fairly understandable. However, labelling women with mental disorders and attacking their modesty is filthy by all means. It allows gender stereotypes to persist, regardless of the political agenda being pushed. These critics are crossing societal limits to the utmost.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif's active participation in various public events, including wearing a police uniform during a Police Day parade, symbolises her commitment to breaking gender stereotypes and advocating for women's roles in all sectors of society. Some illiterate individuals are making it political to push their agenda, but you can't judge all actions similarly.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif's decision to wear a police uniform on Police Day should be seen as a powerful gesture of solidarity with all the female officers performing their duties and making sacrifices in a society like ours. Yet, we still see ignorant and mostly male critics pointing fingers, which is a shame.
This act is a statement against traditional gender norms. It highlights her support for law enforcement and underscores her message that women can hold any position of authority and responsibility, which is highly commendable.
This act inspires women and girls across the country, promoting the idea that they must aspire to play any role and ensure that they succeed in their efforts. If you disagree with her party, that's fine, but the lack of appreciation for her as a woman is what this is really about.
It is so unfortunate that while living in a Muslim society, we depart from all norms provided under the tenets of Islam. “We can bring stars down from the skies for our mothers, we can kill anyone on the pretext of honour as far as our sisters and daughters are concerned, yet, we have not learned to respect a woman”.
Society must open its arms to allow females, which forms 51 per cent of the population to take up challenging roles and compete with their counterparts. Take a look around the world, well over 75 per cent of secretarial jobs are in the safe hands of women and their performance is second to none. One doesn’t have to go far away, in the People’s Republic of China and India, females have overtaken their opponent sex in all sorts of secretarial assignments in private and public sectors.
In my personal view, after the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Maryam Nawaz has assumed a pivotal role as the Chief Minister of the largest province of Punjab both in terms of population and resources. The question arises whether will he be able to follow suit of her father Nawaz Sharif and uncle Shahbaz Sharif who served as CMs and later rose to the position of Prime Minister.
Maryam Nawaz has picked up the thread from where initially his father and uncle left. Besides this most recently, Mohsin Naqvi as Interim Chief Minister created a model of public service. It is heartening to note that Maryam Nawaz has started very well. She is on her toes all the time reaching out to the needy while at the same time, she is using the bureaucracy to its capacity in providing relief to all segments of society without any discrimination.
One would wish her the best in her mission and the media must not be miser in projecting the genuine efforts for the welfare of the common man.