Documentary filmmaker Sabin Agha shares own account of harassment at Mazar-e-Quaid

• Documentary filmmaker Sabin Agha shares her own harassment story.
• Agha draws attention to how the police present at the site did not bother to intervene and stop the assault on her.
• Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari in response to the Agha's story, demands ban on men in public places.

Recent episodes of harassment and violence against women have sparked anger and uproar in Pakistan.

People from all walks of life, from common citizens, to politicians, to celebrities, have all condemned the incidents and demanded that higher ups serve immediate justice to the victims and prevent such incidents from continuing to happen.

As multiple such stories continue to surface, following the harrowing Minar-e-Pakistan incident, one was shared on Saturday by documentary filmmaker and multimedia journalist, Sabin Agha.

In a thread on Twitter, Agha narrated how she experienced a situation similar to that of the Minar-e-Pakistan incident, "a few years ago", at Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi.

Agha began with reminding the reader that she was not a “TikToker or a YouTuber”; she was a journalist who was "doing her job".

"I am not a TikToker or YouTuber. I am a #journalist. I went to Mazar Quaid in Karachi for reporting on #14AugustAzadiDay a few years ago. I was reporting, doing my job, not hurling #kisses as this victim blaming nation is accusing that TikToker girl," wrote Agha.

Agha went on to say "some 100 odd frustrated boys and men attacked" her and her cameraman. 

"My cameraman and his camera were shoved back and forth but I was manhandled. I was groped on every part of my body. My hair was pulled from the back and both sides. My clothes and dupatta were pulled by men," she wrote, in vivid detail of what transpired.

She added that of these men, someone even tried to wrap her dupatta around her neck to "choke" her, as others continued to grope her. 

There were hysterical laughs and cusswords hurled at her all the while, she said.

Agha also drew attention to how the police present at the site did not bother to intervene and stop the assault.

Instead, they said to her: "Lady, we are but four men and they are 150 in number. How could we have stopped them? Why did you even come here?"

Bakhtawar demands ban on men in public places

Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari in response to Agha's story, demanded a ban on men in public spaces.

"Another harrowing experience — witnessed by police who refused to help despite their ability to call for back up as well as use weapons to disperse the crowd. Trusted to help and instead complicit," she wrote.

"Men should be banned from public spaces. We need more women to safeguard women," she added.