PEMRA fines private channel Neo News for telecasting misogynistic remarks against Nida Dar

Private channel Neo News has been in the news in Pakistan over the last couple of days. The reason for the same has been the channel airing misogynistic remarks from former cricketer Abdul Razzaq against Women’s team all-rounder Nida Dar. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has taken the action against the channel for airing the ‘derogatory and hateful’ remarks and slapped them with a fine of Rs 200,000.

The incident took place during the show ‘G Sarkar’ which is hosted by a popular actor Noman Ijaz. Abdul Razzaq was one of the guests on the show when they were talking about how marriage affects a woman’s career in sports. This is when Razzaq commented stating that the women in sports don’t get married and after achieving success, they don’t have that feeling to get married. He also called Nida Dar ‘feminine’ while giving her example on the matter.

“They don’t get married because when they become cricketers, they try to be as equal as their men counterparts. By the time they achieve success, the feeling [to get married] is gone. If you shake her [Dar’s] hand, she is anything but feminine,” Razzaq had said on the show according to The Friday Times and the video had gone viral on social media.

For the unversed, Nida Dar is one of the top all-rounders for Pakistan. She has played 82 ODIs and 108 T20Is for her country scoring 1186 and 1207 runs respectively. She has also picked 73 wickets in ODIs and 103 wickets in the shortest form of the game.

Pakistan Tennis player had submitted the complaint to PEMRA

After coming across the remarks against Nida Dar, the Pakistan Tennis player Aisamul Haq Qureshi had submitted a complaint to PEMRA Council of Complaints against the Neo News. She had asked the body to take a strict action against the channel for airing for such insensitive remarks against women.

In its order, PEMRA also remarked that the comment about women quitting cricket after their marriage was a ‘generalisation’ which leads to discrimination against them.