Moments of national embarrassment

Islamabad : The two foreign ladies, who wanted to join the enthusiasm and celebrations of the Pakistani nation on our Independence Day (14 August) went to the Pakistan Monument on the western cliff of Shakarparian hillock.

Both the European ladies were wearing reasonable dresses and even had their heads covered with proper-looking ‘dupatta’ (scarves) to appear as close to Pakistani ladies as they headed for Pakistan Monument on Shakarparian. They wanted to share the happiness and joy of the Pakistani nation on this auspicious day.

Little did they know what ordeal they would be going through at the hands of young men who went wild when they saw the two female foreigners amongst them. As they walked up to the Monument, soon they were noticed by the young men present there.

Within no time they were surrounded by dozens and dozens of these young drifters who were getting nastier in their behaviour by the minute.

The videos of the unfortunate incident clearly show that one of the ladies was extremely perturbed and was on the verge of panic while the other was keeping her senses and trying to keep her companion calm also.

The young men were shouting and screaming while they were moving around the two ladies like a bunch of hyenas, ready to pounce upon their prey.

There were some people also trying to prevent those hooligans who were trying to get close to the ladies to touch, pinch,ing or jostling with them.

All this reminded us of the ugly incident during a public rally in Lahore at Minar-e-Pakistan grounds where a young lady was molested by a similar crowd of people.

Fortunately, someone called the police, which arrived on the scene as quickly as possible and escorted the poor ladies to safety. Later, the Islamabad Police reacted swiftly and identified at least four persons with the help of NADRA and rounded them up. All of them turned out to be of Afghan origin.

But this is no consolation for the Pakistani nation. The incident has already become an embarrassment for Pakistan in most parts of the world if not the whole world. The ugly incident happened in Pakistan and that too in the federal capital of the country and even more so on Independence Day in broad daylight. Who will listen to or believe that the culprits involved in the incident were not Pakistanis but of Afghan origin? The damage beyond repair is done already.