Aseefa slams Khursheed Shah over derogatory remarks against women

ISLAMABAD: Asifa Bhutto Zardari, the youngest daughter of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, has taken senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah to task, asking him to issue an apology to his female counterparts for his derogatory remarks against women that he made in the National Assembly.

Expressing her disapproval of Shah's remarks in messages sent to her 1.17 million followers on Twitter, Aseefa said this was not the first time insensitive remarks against women had been uttered in Parliament.

Far too many times this has happend. Insensitive remarks against women in politics have reoccured in Parliament 1/2

— Aseefa B Zardari (@AseefaBZ) April 13, 2017

Such remarks should not be tolerated. Hope Khurshid Shah respectfully apologises 2/2

— Aseefa B Zardari (@AseefaBZ) April 13, 2017

The incident took place during the National Assembly session on Thursday when Speaker Ayaz Sadiq asked some women parliamentarian to maintain silence and not disturb the House.

Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah, who was addressing the House before he was disrupted, remarked that the Speaker should not stop women from taking, because "they will fall ill if they don't speak continuously".

The remarks drew the ire of female parliamentarians, including Nafisa Shah, a member of Shah's own party, who protested and asked why the NA Speaker was only silencing women if the men were also talking.

The NA speaker was quick to warn Shah that he would hurt his privilege "by speaking this way about women".