Our Categorical Mind 

On August 5, 2017 the Daily Newspaper Dawn, posted a picture of a female wearing a hijab riding a bike. The picture captioned "A girl rides a motorbike in Saddar Peshawar". It was later shared on the Facebook page of Pak Tea house.

When I saw the picture and read the caption;  I asked myself why is this a news? What is difficult a girl riding a bike or a girl wearing a hijab riding it? I have no clue to why, when a woman does something it becomes a big deal or when a woman cannot do something and is manipulated becomes another deal. 

Yes, I agree that a woman is created differently from a man. However, a woman is free to choose and potentially able to do whatever she chooses or wants to do. It is not a debate that a woman is equal to a man. There is no competition and I feel there is no reason for a comparison as well. Men and women sometimes can do same things and other times have the ability to do it differently or better than the other gender. 

Humans are free to choose. The freedom of making a choice should be liberating. The decision to wear a hijab and ride a bike should not be made a huge deal. Women have gone to space, they fly airplanes, drive cars then why riding a bike make a woman any different. Our mentalities have this confined ideology of intolerance that is when we publish pictures like this or similar ones we actually limit and confine ourselves. We are trying to convince ourselves that it is not permitted or possible, however we are allowing and  permitting it to be acceptable and possible now. 

A human does not need permission. Nobody in this universe has the power over the other. The only power one can practice over the other is the mental power. Therefore, individuals should keep their mental powers  free and liberated from social confinements and environmental restrictions. Individuals should enlighten themselves for their own good and for the good of the society. We should allow the process of freedom from bondages of self-judgments and judgments of confining individuals based on their identity as far as religion or gender is a concern which ultimately could be debilitating.

 Ayesha Gulalai's Right to Fight

 Fighting for what is Right is a Right for All 

I have been so disturbed recently after I read and watched news of Ayesha Gulalai's claims and allegations on Imran Khan about harassment. Well, I have no political interest whatsoever. I don't care if any political party wins or looses, however what I care about today is the misuse of "woman" or " minority"card conveniently. I am all for Ayesha Gulalai fighting for justice and standing up for what is right. Nevertheless, there is a way of doing it. She needs to file a complaint and live through it. She is a powerful woman who has access to media and way to justice. She can provide briefing to the nation by holding press conferences after each step she takes. However, just claiming and using a certain identity does not provide any justice. She should seek justice through proper channel. She wanted to hold that press conference, well and good by all means. Now there should be step two. Appearances on different channels one after the other saying the same thing means nothing. On the other hand, supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf humiliating her and family is not an acceptable reaction. It seems like a game of mudslinging which is so disgraceful and needs to end. Moreover, her claims have ignited other opponent parties to support her to defame Imran Khan which is a fair game I believe in politics. However, what is this new idea of " We respect women" by all political parties. Well, not only women but humans in general should he respected irrespective of their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. 

There is a term called "Human Rights" which we have forgotten to use. Office of Higher Commissioner of Human Rights  (2017) described human rights as "Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible". If there is any individual that feels violation to her/his rights, the individual needs to file a complaint and fight it through with evidence. Lobbying can be done to reach to justice. However, using a certain identity to get attention and manipulating certain situation in your favor is ethically wrong. This whole situation is disturbing. People need to be educated and made to understand their rights irrespective of their identities. 

We all should have a right to seek justice and we should do it through proper channel. We should not be discouraged by name-calling and defaming to not fight for what we stand for. Reaction should not be based on personal biases. Let us fight for right and let us help people to fight for what they think is right and just. 

#AyeshaGulalai #TVchannels #ImranKhan #PTI