Writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar asks women to prove equality by gang-raping men

LAHORE: Scriptwriter Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar of Punjab Nahi Jaungi fame recently talked about how he could not fathom what equality were women demanding and challenged to "abduct a man and gang-rape him so I know what equality is".

In a podcast interview uploaded to YouTube over the weekend, Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar — also known for writing the Landa Bazar script — talked about how "some feminist group" asked him about equality so, as a response, he asked them if they "ever read news like ‘five men kidnap a woman’?"

"They said yes. So I said have you ever read ‘five women kidnap a man’? No, then do it … if you want equality, then do that. Only then will I know they [women] are being equal.

"Loot a bus, abduct a man, gang-rape him, so I get to know what equality is. What kind of equality are you demanding? I’m troubled," he said, to a somewhat shocked interview, who seemed to be at a loss of words.

Qamar, who also penned the script of famed drama serial Pyaare Afzal, was speaking about his inspiration for an ongoing TV series co-produced by Humayun Saeed and Shahzad Nasib and why his hands were shaking while writing it.

Terming it the "most difficult script I’ve ever written", the scriptwriter explained that it was very close to the heart of the people.

"This is the true story of many men. I’ve observed such people, one such couple, and I saw — and there were many such couples. A married woman, while cheating and betraying, doesn’t lower her gaze; she talks confidently because she has the support of another man.

"An unmarried woman, while cheating and betraying, lowers her gaze. A married man, while cheating and betraying, lowers her gaze. An unmarried man, while cheating and betraying, talks confidently. And this is from my experience," he noted.

Qamar further claimed that "women usually should not be angry at" his his latest drama serial because of "the way they have banded together and disrespected men and, the second thing is, that I’m talking in your [women's] favour."

"I don’t call every woman a woman, whether you like or don’t like it, to me, a woman has only one ‘beauty’ and that is her modesty … her loyalty. If that’s not there, then I ‘salute’ you and I call them ‘non-women’.

He challenged people to "go ahead and file case against me or cook up a #MeToo case, I don’t care but I won’t be able to call every woman a woman, this is not true with me at all".

The TV writer went to bash women, asserting, at the same time, that he was "fighting for the good women".

He said: "A man who first places all of his dignity, respect, honour, all of his capital in the hands of his wife and then goes out to work for her and I curse the women who, behind his back, opens up her hands.

"That was the concept and I’m fighting for the good women because if they’re written in the same category, then it is a disrespect to them.

"By god, there’s no bigger feminist in Pakistan than me but I go for the right, good women," he added.

Qamar, when speaking of the contemporary women's rights movements, mentioned: "We men have so slyly snatched your rights that you don’t even know what your rights are. So, instead of trying to find out what your rights are, you’re trying to take a portion of men’s rights. You won’t get that.

"There are a few girls, a few groups, who will chant and tweet against me [but] you can’t do any more than that, you can’t change the nature of the honour of the men, this is impossible, the society will crash … collapse.

"Immodesty doesn’t define women, you belong to nobody then."