A police chief in Pakistan is facing a growing backlash after he seemed to blame the victim of an alleged gang rape because she was driving without a male companion at night. Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh repeatedly criticised the victim for failing to take a male friend. Khadija Siddiqi, a lawyer and women's rights activist, told AFP that the police chief's comments were part of an unfortunate and very rampant culture of victim blaming in Pakistan. Nighat Dad, a women's rights activist and an organisers of an annual women's rights march in Lahore, added: 'We are angry, we demand his removal and we demand his apology.' In Pakistan around 1,000 people, mainly women, are murdered yearly in honour killings for bringing shame onto a family.

Source: Daily Mail September 11, 2020 09:48 UTC