On August 14, celebrated as Independence Day in Pakistan, actress Mehwish Hayat shared a post with a thought-provoking message stating that just hoisting the national flag wasn’t enough and mentioning that if the citizens wanted to translate Pakistan of their dreams into reality, they should ’embody the ideals of the forefathers’.  While Mehwish’s Independence Day message was deep and thoughtful, all the social media users were concerned about was the colour of her bra. Yes, you read that right.

Clad in a white kurta, which one would hardly say was transparent, Mehwish wished her countrymen Happy Independence Day while sporting a smile and holding the national flag in her hand. Mehwish wrote in the caption, “The Quaid said, “It is only with united effort and faith in our destiny that we shall be able to translate the Pakistan of our dreams into reality.” Hoisting the flag is not enough, if we really respect this country, we need to embody the ideals of our forefathers. Happy Independence Day PAKISTAN ZINDABAD #MehwishHayat #ProudPakistani.”

However, all the netizens could notice was the colour of her bra and passed distasteful remarks in the comments section of the post. However, Mehwish wasn’t be to be rattled by some negative comments and faceless social media users trying to guess the colour of her bra.

Mehwish took to her Instagram Story and bashed the trolls for being ‘sick’. Here’s the screenshot of her post slamming the trolls. Take a look:

In another news from Pakistan, a horrifying video has emerged online in which hordes of men are seen groping, mauling and tearing off the clothes of a woman, who is famed for her videos on TikTok.

Several such horrific videos of the woman being “brutally attacked” in Lahore even as the country celebrated its Independence Day on August 14 have surfaced online and for a while, the incident was among top hashtags on Twitter #minarPakistan and #400 men were among the hashtags being used by outraged netizens who expressed their shock and disgust at the violence against the woman.

The woman filed a complaint with police in which she alleged that a mob of around 400 people attacked her and her friends while she was filming a video near Minar-e-Pakistan on August 14, according to local media reports.

“I was stripped and my clothes were torn apart,” she said alleging that the mob picked her up and started tossing her in the air, the Express Tribune quoted.

The woman also alleged that she kept crying for help but to no avail and no one came to her rescue.

Disturbing video clips widely circulated in social media show hundreds of men thrashing the woman, tearing her clothes and hurling them into the air. She also alleged that her gold ornaments were “forcibly taken” by unidentified people in the crowd, while the mobile phone and cash were also “snatched”.

Maria Amir wrote in Dawn that there can be no more obvious metaphor for how depraved our society really is. It is hard to imagine a more powerful symbolic representation of how we have twisted the very meaning of ‘independence’ and ‘freedom’ to cater solely to one gender at the expense of another. There really is no other way to say it, we are in the midst of gender apartheid.

The incident took place at the Greater Iqbal Park area in Lahore according to the First Information Report (FIR) registered at the Lorry Adda police station in the city. The annual report of the State of Human Rights in Pakistan released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) for the year 2020 amply describes the plight of women in the country.

The HRCP report has once again painted a concerning picture of the women’s rights situation in the country. The HRCP has highlighted forms of violence against women, which include sexual assault and domestic violence prevalent across the country.