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Tahira Abdullah schooling Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar on feminism is giving us life

Tahira Abdullah schooling Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar on feminism is giving us life

My rights are not in the hands of men to give or take; I was born with them, said the activist. You tell them, queen!
Updated 21 Jan, 2020

Mondays are rough but Tahira Abdullah just made ours better.

On Samaa TV's News Beat, host barrister Ehtesham Amir-ud-din was joined by Qamar, Abdullah and journalist Owais Touheed. As the show was about gender equality, of course the F-word everyone is scared of came up. Not Abdullah though.

A clip doing the rounds on social media shows the human rights activist owning Khalil ur Rehman Qamar and other sexists on the real definition of feminism.

Talking about what the movement really stands for, she shared, "Feminism is not the name of an organisation but a revolutionary view; it's understanding and believing that women, too, are human beings. You want to talk about equality, rights, who's a good woman or a bad woman, who's a loyal woman, who's worthy of respect but my respect and my dignity is not in the hands of any man to give or take."

"I am born from the same woman a man is born from and when I come into this world, I bring my rights with me, just like I'm born with a body, soul, brain and heart, they are a part of my existence."

Also read: Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar is the biggest feminist around, as long as you're a 'good woman'

She added, "And those rights are protected by the Constitution of Pakistan. No one is going to give me my rights nor do I have to ask. Why should we ask men for them? We were born with them!"

When the host reiterated that she was saying that women are not asking men for their rights, she replied, "Why should we have to ask? We were born bearing these rights. We don't need to beg for them whether we're a daughter, a mother, a wife or nothing at all. Just by virtue of being a woman, we deserve to be treated like a human being. We don't need men to define standards of conduct for us or categorise who's a good woman or a bad woman. This is what we call mansplaining these days."

Clearly not listening to what Abdullah had said previously, Qamar hit back: "When you get out on the streets with these placards, you are asking men for rights. You don't know what your rights are, you want to take rights away from men for yourself and that's not going to happen. I hate the fact that [feminists] talk about men with such disdain, I'm the biggest feminist of Pakistan!"

Also calling out the double standards on loyalty perpetuated by men like Qamar, Abdullah explained, "Women by nature are supposed to be faithful and if they can't be, they're bad women. Men by nature are supposedly not faithful and if they cheat, well, it's who they are."

We're sure women everywhere could relate when she said, "We're in the 21st century and we're tired of being judged...Men will tell us who we are or what we should be like? We are against this commodification and objectification and we are tired."

You can watch the full episode here.

Comments

Hasnain Jan 20, 2020 03:23pm
Owned
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Nationalist Jan 20, 2020 03:44pm
In a way womens rights aren't any different from human rights in general. Ideally no one should be able establish a jurisdiction over rights of humans but that's not how the world works, the strong will always trample the weak unless bound by a law, man made or divine, protecting the weak while not entirely dismissing the privilege that is earned with strength. A law acceptable to both the strong and the weak, a middle ground. Or this two and fro struggle swings only one way towards the end.
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JUGNU Jan 20, 2020 03:49pm
Beautifully and forcefully said, but men are thick-headed!
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Khaled Jan 20, 2020 04:38pm
Three cheers for Tahira Abdullah.
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Baakhlaq Jan 20, 2020 05:18pm
Such discussions, seminars or conferences don't play any effective role in empowering women,it is only for the elite class where women are already enjoying equal rights.we need maximum educational opportunities for women and need introducing changes in our syllabi.
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timetostopthis Jan 20, 2020 05:19pm
Sadly Qamar represents 99% of the men in Pakistan. Tahira may have won the batle, but she lost the war a long time ago.
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Khan Jan 20, 2020 05:22pm
This guy claims to be biggest writer of our TV unfortunately, I must add .. our tv serials are watched by millions which depicts his views .. according to him a woman is not a woman if she lacks "haya" whatever that means but according to most men in our society Mr Khalil Ur rehman's own family would not fit that definition either. He calls himself feminism while just few days ago He called Eshal Fayyaz second-rate woman. People like these should be banned by the greedy media houses.
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A khan Jan 20, 2020 05:41pm
He made excellent drama for family not for ?
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Neo Jan 20, 2020 06:16pm
Tahira Abdullah comments were great. The rest of the show was just mindless. Had to change the channel.
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Shahzaib Jan 20, 2020 06:55pm
Khalil sahb is a famous writer but he has not learnt ethics to behave with other people. He should mind his language and gesture. It is not an issue with Khalil when it comes to ethically behaving, it is more or less an of the paramount issue of our society. We hit the lowest in ethics.
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Naved Jan 20, 2020 07:21pm
Whatever Tahira Abdullah said is right theoretically but on ground situation is different. Practically majority of women in Pakistan have to take their rights partially or fully. So for that an awareness campaign and struggle is needed. In fact situation is not men against women but enlightenment has to be prevailed against darkness. Right needs to prevail against might - practically. Theoretical discussion only will not solve the problem.
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Abbas Ali Jan 20, 2020 08:20pm
Its nothing like "schooling", You are just making a news. a good debate with intellectuals for human enlightenment, but certainly thats not a news for you.
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HonorBright Jan 20, 2020 08:25pm
I am struggling to say something to defend 'the biggest feminist of Pakistan' but i can't.. women by nature are humans just as we men are..to expect from them high standards of moral altitude is to give ourselves a license to be as lax in our moral as we choose..enough of this 'by nature' policing
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usman Jan 20, 2020 09:01pm
Subcontinent is dominated by men society due to its cultural and social aspects of life. One of biggest prove that it failed as it has been discussed even in 2020. It will be discuss even in 2040 with not change.
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Omair Jan 20, 2020 10:17pm
Much needed!
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Ash Jan 21, 2020 07:28am
Perfect talk!!
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Fazy Jan 21, 2020 09:10am
Further division of society, nothing else to see here.
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Khaled Jan 21, 2020 11:24am
@A khan. It was not a bit excellent, more of a stereotype, promoting adultery to increase the rating. NOT at all a family drama, might be for 2% liberal class.
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benish Jan 21, 2020 01:15pm
@Khaled true... it was not a family drama at all... including a kid and making him deliver dialogues not appropriate to his age does not qualifies it to be a family show.
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Ann Jan 21, 2020 03:34pm
It was fun to watch agitated and emotional outburst by Khalil ur Rehman against the composed and well versed Tahira Abdullah. Queen!
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HashBrown® Jan 22, 2020 12:13am
@JUGNU "Beautifully and forcefully said, but men are thick-headed!" Just as a polite mention, there are men out there who agree with Tahira Abdullah 100%. Calling us all thick-headed might not be the most helpful way of resolving Pakistan's massive gender inequality issues.
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Rajeev Arora Jan 22, 2020 01:56am
Owais ji and Tahira ji made powerful and logical points, especially in the context of 21st century that we live in. But, Qamar ji exhibited incapability of even listening to those points...his whole demeanor was arrogant...shouting over and insulting other panelists, and chewing on his snack while shouting...he really exposed himself...thanks to your program Barrister saheb. By the way, I was disappointed that the only woman panelist got the minimum amount of time to present her views/arguments...one might say, once again a manifestation of man's domination.
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Dr.Sadaf Jan 22, 2020 02:03pm
Everyone stay calm, cool and normal, no need to go so overboard when discussing any topic, I feel all the people under discussion are not so concerned about the topic, they just want to show off their intellectual depth.
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Nasir Jan 22, 2020 06:39pm
Excellent!
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I. F. Jan 22, 2020 09:54pm
Ad hominems and strawmans. Very disappointed in our feminists. Criticizing an artist's creative process in a very bazaari manner. They did not respond to him at all.
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