Civil society flays campaign against Shehla Raza

Civil society activists have demanded an end to the ongoing smear campaign against Sindh women’s development minister Shehla Raza whereby she is being accused of having tweeted over the social media her “objection” to the appointment of a young gentleman, Atif Mian, to the economic affairs team of the prime minister on the grounds that he was a member of a minority community.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Wednesday afternoon, Karamat Ali, director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, said he and other members of the civil society had contacted Raza on the issue and that she had flatly denied having written anything to that effect on the social media.

Raza said she suspected that it was someone from her media team who had decided to give vent to his prejudices by hacking her password.

Karamat condemned this attitude of objecting to an appointment just on the basis of one’s creed and said that faith was a very personal affair and should have nothing to do with the matters of the state.

He said Atif Mian was a brilliant young economist who had gathered accolades for his command over the subject even in western countries and, as such, was direly needed by the country.

Given the economic mess and the rickety economic situation the country was in right now, it was essential to induct such brains, all for the good of the country and matters like personal faith must not be allowed to interfere with the country’s march forward.

“After the clarification by Ms. Raza, there is no need to unleash a campaign against her. The civil society is well aware that Raza is progressive and is averse to religious bigotry and extremism,” said Karamat.

Advocate Rubina Brohi, member of the Sindh Human Rights Commission, said, “We condemn this false propaganda against the lady and demand a proper investigation into the matter to locate the actual culprit.”

Saeed Baloch of the Pakistan Fisherfolk’s Forum said that Raza was being maligned because she always sincerely advocated democracy, which was not liked by the powers that be.