PTI MNA Iqbal Afridi faces backlash after objecting to woman's attire
Pakistan
The woman, a K-Electric official, had attended the power division committee’s meeting in NA
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Muhammad Iqbal Afridi strongly objected to a woman’s attire during a session of the National Assembly standing committee.
The woman, a K-Electric official, had attended the power division committee’s meeting at the Parliament House.
The lawmaker said he raised the issue after the KE official had briefed the panel and left the meeting room.
One of the items on the meeting’s agenda was a “comprehensive report/implementation status” of previous recommendations about issues raised by MNAs Afridi and Rafiullah “regarding the disconnection overbilling and unannounced load-shedding of electricity in Karachi and erstwhile Fata.”
After the session, Afridi termed the KE official’s dress “objectionable” and said she “should not have attended the meeting in such an outfit”.
He said the PTI lawmaker also said that “SOPs should be devised for women’s clothing”.
Responding to a question if his objection was “ethically correct”, the lawmaker stressed that the venue was the NA’s standing committee and attended by many people.
“If people come [to gatherings] in such a manner in a respectable society, what will children say?” he asked, adding that the public “learned” from watching them.
“There should not be such democracy here that ruins a society,” Afridi insisted.
The chairman of the committee, meanwhile, apologised over the matter, calling it highly inappropriate.
“It does not happen on our forum that someone disrespects or says something like this […] Even if it did happen, then I apologise,” the committee chief said.
