Nadia Hussain says she will raise voice for Lahore college student if incident isn’t ‘fabricated’

Model and makeup artist Nadia Hussain has made a public call for information regarding the alleged rape of a student at a Lahore college last week. News of the incident at a Punjab Group of Colleges campus in Lahore went viral on social media, prompting the police to arrest a campus security guard and initiate an investigation. The incident sparked widespread student protests at PGC campuses and has since been termed a “fabricated story” by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

On Tuesday, Hussain shared a video by ASP Shehrbano Naqvi, requesting the public to refrain from spreading disinformation that could cause undue stress to the family after the father of the girl also dismissed reports of sexual assault. Hussain said she was thankful the incident “didn’t occur” and shared a video lauding the sheer magnitude of protests that had erupted over the alleged assault. She cited Naqvi’s video to assure her followers that the whole thing was a case of misinformation.

Her video garnered significant backlash from people who believe the incident is being “covered up”. On Wednesday, she shared another another video, asking anyone with any information to prove that the incident did occur to come forward.

Hussain assured her followers that she was not related to ASP Naqvi or the college and was genuinely happy that the students had protested for the alleged victim. Reminding them that she has, on several occasions, raised her voice for women, she said that she would continue to do so for the girl if the incident did indeed occur.

“Yesterday, I made a video expressing my happiness over the fact that the PGC incident was perhaps based on misinformation and this unfortunate incident has not occurred,” she said. “The only reason I said that I was happy was because I believed and wanted to believe what ASP Shehrbano was saying because she is a responsible officer.

“I just want to make one thing clear; I am not related to Shehrbano, nor am I related to the Punjab police or PGC. Yesterday when I uploaded the video, I expressed happiness over the student protests and the outrage. I believe protests are extremely important to raise awareness and to create noise but a lot of people messaged me saying, ‘I’m sorry this incident has happened,’” Hussain shared.

“I would say that I faced significant backlash for my video, despite having always stood up for women’s rights. I am one of the only celebrities who talk openly about any incident that happens regarding women being harassed. So, I would just like to add that if anyone has any kind of information regarding this incident then they should share it with me because honestly, I am not the type who is going to be silenced by anybody regarding any women’s issues and women’s rights,” she added.

Hussain called the incident “very serious” and reiterated that she is unrelated to authorities investigating it. “I would like to verify this matter, and if it is true, I will raise my voice and [if not], I will take anybody to task if they have spread the wrong information,” she concluded.