By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Retired Capt Muhammad Safdar, the husband of Punjab chief minister Maryam Nawaz, has faced a fierce backlash over remarks about women’s bodily autonomy and the late human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir.
His wife has publicly voiced her anguish, while two of Pakistan’s premier lawyers’ bodies have urged the authorities to take legal action.
Speaking at a Khatm-i-Nabuwwat rally in Chiniot, in Punjab, earlier this week, Safdar took aim at the slogan “mera jism, meri marzi” (my body, my choice). The slogan has become a rallying cry for women’s rights campaigners in Pakistan and a lightning rod for religious conservatives.
He questioned why women who assert control over their bodies turn to religious scholars for prayers when they are diagnosed with serious illnesses such as cancer.
“They say, ‘My body, my choice.’ But when they fall ill or develop cancer, they turn to religious scholars, seeking prayers and blessed water for a cure. They should understand that if they claim ownership over their bodies, they should also be able to cure them. In reality, the human body is under God’s control,” he said.
A video of the address went viral on social media, and the row erupted as Pakistan reached the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
On Friday, Nawaz responded to a post on X about the speech. It read: “Maryam Nawaz’s husband, Captain Safdar, also lost his mother-in-law to cancer, yet here he is mocking women who are battling cancer.”
The chief minister’s mother, Kulsoom Nawaz, died in 2018 after a months-long battle with the disease.
“Heartbreaking,” Nawaz wrote, adding a broken-heart emoji. She did not mention her husband by name.
“The silent battles a woman, a wife, fights behind closed doors … The strength she must find even when she feels like breaking. Some battles are fought in silence and some wounds are invisible,” she said.
Safdar’s remarks drew sharp criticism. On Saturday, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the 28th executive committee of the outgoing Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) separately condemned Safdar for remarks about Jahangir, the renowned senior lawyer and human rights activist who died in 2018. At the rally, he had called the late lawyer “cursed”.
PBC vice chairman Pir Muhammad Masood Chishti urged public representatives to exercise restraint and uphold dignity in their statements, and called on the relevant authorities to take immediate notice and initiate appropriate legal action.
“The use of disparaging language and references to her religious identity to malign her is highly regrettable and deserves strong condemnation,” he said. He added that making such remarks about a deceased woman, who could no longer defend herself, was “deplorable and reflects a lack of decency and respect”.
Chishti said differences of opinion must never become a pretext for personal attacks, hate speech, character assassination or religious intolerance. “The invaluable services and contributions of the late Asma Jahangir to the legal fraternity, human rights and the rule of law deserve respect and recognition,” he said.
The SCBA committee said it had “strongly and unanimously” taken exception to the comments. “These remarks are highly condemnable and have deeply wounded the sentiments of the entire legal community,” it said, adding that Jahangir was a devout Muslim who had dedicated her life to justice, humanity and the rights of all people, without discrimination.
“Her services to humanity and human rights transcended religious boundaries and to make such hateful remarks about her was not only deeply disrespectful but also an insult to all those who continue to honour her legacy,” it said.
The association also condemned what it called derogatory remarks by Safdar against women and an illness “being valiantly fought back by hundreds of thousands of women across the world”.
“At a time when women are breaking barriers, such remarks are disgraceful and entirely unacceptable,” it said. It noted that his wife holds the highest office in Punjab and that he is himself the father of a daughter, and said he “should have been ashamed of making such insensitive and degrading remarks directed against the women”.
The statement warned the remarks could attract penal consequences and called on the authorities to take immediate and strict notice and proceed in accordance with the law.
It is not the first time Safdar’s words have drawn Jahangir’s censure. She once demanded that then prime minister Nawaz Sharif take notice of a speech Safdar made in the National Assembly targeting the Ahmadi community, which she described as highly discriminatory.
“Such divisive, offensive, and intolerant attitudes must be firmly challenged and nipped in the bud,” the SCBA said. “Let it be clear to all and sundry, we will not remain silent when the dignity of our legal fraternity, the legacy of a human rights champion, and the respect owed to women are attacked.”
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