Another day and another news with the word harassment in it. These days the #MeToo movement has spread over the entire world and even in Pakistan, a lot of stories have been coming forward. People are coming out with recent and past incidents to battle the vice of sexual harassment and end the stigma around “speaking up”.

The Ali-Meesha controversy is at the head of the pack with a proper court procedure and another shocking set of allegations was made just yesterday on Facebook by Ali Saleem.

While most people are taking these allegations seriously and rallying behind who they think is right, some people cannot help but blow off the entire situation.

Fahad Mustafa jokes about sexual harassment in Jeeto Pakistan

Fahad Mustafa has, unfortunately, turned out to be one of those people. The star is riding high on fame due to the success of his game show, Jeeto Pakistan.

The show has had many celebrity guest appearances and yesterday the guests were Faysal Qureshi and Aijaz Aslam. The three obviously share a friendship and it showed on the program yesterday as the boys chased Fahad around on set. All the way on top of a car and down. All was well until Fahad made a rather inappropriate joke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjU-xttGnxg

The host said, “Men kal Facebook pe harassment ka case karun ga tum pe. Beta, ye in chal raha hai. Kal to dekho tum log.”

While the first part of the joke could be taken somewhat lightly, the second is deeply offensive. Saying that harassment cases are “in” is saying that the victims are doing it just for attention, which is very hurtful for said individuals.

The statement was laughed away in the moment but is actually very harsh to the people who have shown the strength to come forward. While some people would consider the joke harmless, it actually has adverse effects on the #MeToo movement as a whole. Making such jokes at the expense of harassment victims shows signs of falsifying their claims.

A final word

Just recently, due to one of these cases, the harassment laws of the country have changed for the better. The movement has empowered a lot of people to speak up for themselves and is removing some of the stigma associated with sexual harassment. In these times, such statements not only harm this progress but rather show that we are not taking victim testimonials and protection seriously.

Also, being an influential personality, people like Fahad Mustafa have the power to influence thousands. They should be trying to make people more aware of the situation rather than normalizing it with such jokes that are clearly, in bad taste.

What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments.