Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy needs no introduction – the illustrious film-maker made us proud by being the first Pakistani to bring an Oscar home. She is a strong advocate of women empowerment; always taking the initiatives to promote the positive side of Pakistan.
She rose to fame with her pioneering documentaries on social issues prevalent in our country and has made headlines since.
Sharmeen has recently made even more headlines – however, they’re not for a documentary or an Oscar this time.
The oscar-winner has created uproar after she took to social media to express her disapproval of the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) ER doctor sending her sister a friend request on Facebook – labelling it as harassment, also adding that ‘Pakistan has zero boundaries’.
This resulted in the doctor being fired.
There are zero boundaries in #pakistan! Last night my sister went to AKU emergency & the doctor who tended to her tried 2 add her on FB 1/2
— Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) October 23, 2017
Unfortunately the doctor messed with the wrong women in the wrong family and I will definitely report him! Harassment has 2 stop!
— Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) October 23, 2017
Since then, the hospital’s ratings have gone down drastically.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB
AKUH responded with a statement which read, “The Aga Khan University Hospital always maintains the highest standards of confidentiality, regardless of patient or employee status and will not release any information on its patients or employees. AKUH follows its policies and makes its decisioins based on facts, and not on any social pressures.”
PHOTO: FILE
This social media storm has the nation divided. Whilst some have backed the film-maker, others called her out in more ways than one.
Pakistani actress Ushna Shah lended her support for Sharmeen through a Facebook post.
SCREEN GRAB
But on the other hand, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Nomi Ansari and Farhan Saeed view this incident from a completely different perspective.
Sharmeen Obaid ppl look upto U, lets realize wht sexual harassment really means be4 getting a doc fired by a public fiasco for a fb request https://t.co/RUhNZvypck
— Hamza Ali Abbasi (@iamhamzaabbasi) October 27, 2017
I have 1000 harassment cases pending #cutiepie #masoompari #babydoll and many more…
— NOMI ANSARI (@NOMIANSARI) October 27, 2017
How about girls sending friend requests to guys?This is a perfect example of misusing the woman card,there’s a reason it’s called ‘request’!
— Farhan Saeed (@farhan_saeed) October 28, 2017
Pakistani academic and columnist Ali Moeen Nawazish responded to Sharmeen’s tweets on his facebook page, “Sharmeen Obaid thinks sending a request on social media is harrasment:
RIDICULOUS. People get requests on social media all the time. Sometimes it is for networking and sometimes you just want to stay in touch with the person. People who are related to or close to public figures get it more. Specially because generally I don’t know about here, but they use that status to get special treatment. Hundreds of people add me on Facebook a day.”
He continued, “Now Sharmeen Obaid says that’s this is harassment. I am sorry but I not only fail to see it but also feel like throwing around such a claim is actually taking away from real victims of harassment. Sending a request on Facebook which you can accept or refuse is not really any form of harrasment. Is asking for someone’s number harrasment too? Which is going to be perfectly acceptable because it’s accepted in Western countries right?”
“Whats next, asking for a pen is harassment, asking for a tissue would be harassment. A picture in which someone accidentally comes in the background will be harassment. Looking at someone for three seconds will be harassment??? Please there were no wrong connotations and this is just ridiculous. Should the doctor have sent the request? No! Was it unusual? Yes. Was it unprofessional? Yes. Was he harassing her? Oh please,” Ali concluded.
Disclaimer: Sharmeen’s official Facebook page was not taken down by Facebook at any point.
Regardless though, this fiasco has definitely created more than just chaos and hit Pakistanis hard.
