Mr MJ Akbar, You Don’t Scare Us: 19-year-old Arushi Thapar Writes A Hard-hitting Piece

You might think that you have won this battle after filing a defamation case. You continue to use your political clout, but please don’t be under the impression that you scare us, the collective that believes in the voices of the 14 women who stand against you.

You and your kind might need to strategically raise up issues in order to win the next General Election, but anybody who has spoken out against you, has no such vested interests and never will, because unlike so many people at the top, they actually have the courage to walk the talk. They do not just raise slogans of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”, they actually believe in the idea that women cannot be second class citizens anymore. They believe in voicing their opinions against those who work in opposition to everything that is enshrined in our Constitution.

Your attempt at maligning the veracity of their accounts, by no means will be successful at lessening the magnitude of their stories and everything that they stand for in the MeToo movement. On the contrary, people will read  more about them. The anger will rise and rise till there will come a time when even those blinded by these ideologies, (which got this regime into power in the first place) will understand the blatant hypocrisy perpetuated by political masters. Yes, the same one that shields you.

Do not worry sir,

We shall fight.

We shall see.

“ye ham gunahgār aurteñ haiñ

ki sach kā parcham uThā ke nikleñ

to jhuuT se shāhrāheñ aTī mile haiñ

har ek dahlīz pe sazāoñ kī dāstāneñ rakhī mile haiñ

jo bol saktī thiiñ vo zabāneñ kaTī mile haiñ

ye ham gunahgār aurteñ haiñ

ki ab ta.āqub meñ raat bhī aa.e

to ye āñkheñ nahīñ bujheñgī

ki ab jo dīvār gir chukī hai

use uThāne kī zid na karnā!”

-Kishwar Naheed