Shehbaz Sharif said he was sorry for the motorway incident comment but does he mean it?

The traumatizing motorway incident has reignited an important conversation over women’s safety in Pakistan. While the awaam has been concerned with matters of safety (their own and the victim’s), politicians of this country have been busy ‘politicizing’ the issue.

In a clip that has gone viral, leader of the Opposition, Shehbaz Sharif spoke about the motorway incident in the session at the National Assembly but only with the purpose to highlight the construction of the motorway as PML N’s achievement

While talking about the motorway incident, Shehbaz Sharif, said that it would not be inappropriate to mention the fact that the place where the incident took place is the motorway which is a project by Nawaz Sharif and PML N. In his own words, ” Sailkot motorway pai yeh waqaya paisha aya, yahan pai main yeh samjhta hun kay yeh kehna ghair munasib nahe hoga kay yeh motorway bhe mian nawaz sharif ki sarbarahi main Muslim League noon nay banayi.”

For some reason he thought that was an… achievement?

Naturally, people were infuriated by the insensitive remark made by the former CM Punjab

They were shocked by the way that other members of PML- N approved of his statement

People termed his speech as unethical and inappropriate

They stated that they had to re-listen the statement because they couldn’t believe their ears and were disappointed by the way he tried to take the credit for building the motorway instead of talking about the victim

A few even gave references to the Zainab case and mentioned the culture of non-seriousness to issues pertaining to women and children’s safety in Pakistan

A lot of people were shocked at the audacity of the PML-N to showcase their achievements at a time which is as sensitive like this

They even talked about the way opposition could have used this opportunity to talk some sense into the Government

Upon realizing the severity of the situation, Shehbaz Sharif apologized saying he wasn’t able to contextualize his comment

He further mentioned that he is also affected by the traumatic motorway incident and he hopes that the government takes measures to make it a safer route for the citizens using it.

Most people are really not buying his apology, calling it just as fake as the one tendered by the CCPO Lahore

https://twitter.com/humairtarek/status/1306100932351062016

Our politicians need to show a little more sensitivity by making responsible statements about issues that are as important as this one. Politicizing the issue or taking credits for the previous projects at a time like this can adversely impact the image of the political party.

What are your thoughts on the issue?