KARACHI: Iftar at an Islamabad hotel turned into a viral video goldmine after dissident PTI parliamentarian Noor Alam, and the PPP’s Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Nadeem Afzal Chan, and Faisal Karim Kundi were seen engaged in a brawl with an unidentified man, alleged to have been either a PTI worker or supporter.
While the unidentified man has not come forward with his side of the story, Noor Alam has registered a complaint with the Thana Secretariat, saying that he was out for iftar with his PPP friends when the alleged PTI worker started abusing him and threatened to kill him. Noor Alam and the others tried to ignore the man’s heckling but when he continued they tried to calm matters by asking him to refrain. Per Alam, that is when the man also assaulted them. Alam has said that he had previously too faced abuse by PTI workers.
The viral videos of the fight led to a bout of social media outrage, including by members of the former PTI cabinet. Responding to the criticism, the PPP’s Nadeem Afzal Chan tweeted that the man who was abusing them had also used offensive language regarding the women in their families, and when asked to apologise had ‘leapt’ at them.
Since details of the brawl are gleaned from the video footage available, there are differing accounts on who threw the first punch — depending on which video one has seen. However, journalist Saleem Safi tweeted that he went to the hotel after the incident had taken place and after talking to people present there discovered that the man in question was not alone and had in fact come to the hotel with five other men. According to Safi’’s tweet, the men did not help their friend and in fact ran away from the scene. Safi has asked why they would run away if they were not guilty.
On March 20, former prime minister Imran Khan had at a public rally warned those planning to vote against him that they would face social stigma, ‘no one would marry their children’ and their ‘children and families would lose respect and honour in society’. There have been increasing concerns by analysts that the PTI’s current route could lead to an uptick in such violent incidents.
Tweeting about the viral video, journalist Adil Shahzeb has said that when leadership encourages people towards violence, this is to be expected. “Violence is unacceptable so is continued incitement to violence in public gatherings. Expect more such incidents if incitement to violence continues.... Sanity must prevail at both ends”.
