A London-based girl who claims to be the person in a viral video of Maryam Nawaz has narrated some behind the scene facts, alleging Maryam grabbing her shoulder and squeezing her arm in a threatening manner.
The girl also mentioned feeling intimidated and powerless when Maryam and her bodyguards demanded that she delete the video, saying three bodyguards present and that they refused to let her go until they had seen proof that the video was deleted. She also described feeling uncomfortable and intimidated by their aggressive behavior.
In a statement released to a US based Pakistani journalist, the girl who opted to remain anonymous said “I have seen the video of Maryam Nawaz going viral and would like to let you know that I am the girl in the video. First and foremost, I would like to stay anonymous as that video was a private video taken months ago meant only for close family but unfortunately it was leaked by someone, which I never intended.”
We all thought that Maryam did not harass the woman whose selfie video with her went viral recently. We were wrong.
The woman in the video just reached out to me with her version of events.
I'm sharing is her full unedited statement here:
————————Hi,
I hope…
— Waqas (@worqas) April 10, 2023
She further said “I would never have felt the need to speak out however, have grown annoyed with the so called comments regarding, ‘her grace and patience’. My actions were not respectful and that’s exactly how I intended for them to be, I have no respect for corrupt politicians no matter what party or country they belong to, my heart will always be with people who are suffering, and when I can see that the legal system is not working in their favour, I have no issue with public ridicule. I also have no affiliation with the PTI party or Pakistani politics, so that is a nonsense narrative. I have no care for those individuals who are coming out to ‘condemn’ me for my actions, they mean nothing to me, I didn’t even know they existed.”
“As I said, my actions were not intended to be respectful and Maryam’s further actions were not either, which is not an unexpected response given the situation, but her blissfully ignorant supporters seem to assume she is the most well composed woman. In the video you can see she grabs my shoulder to which she then squeezes my arm and threateningly tells me to delete the video, what you don’t see in that video are the three bodyguards surrounding me. To note, I was by myself. All of them, with Maryam grabbing me, refused to let me go until they had seen proof that the video was deleted. The grown men demanded that they go through, not just my camera roll but also my recently deleted photos, to which I stood my ground and refused. It was only until they began to become more aggressive and I eventually became uncomfortable that I had shown them that I had, ‘deleted’ the video, that too, was to Maryam’s daughter because I refused to show the men at Maryam’s request,” she added.
At the conclusion of her statement, the girl alleged that “there was an attempt of a power play in demanding that I delete the video, when I had the right to do what I did, I did not physically touch her like she did to me nor did I feel the need to. Freedom of speech is a human right here. A politician is a public job and thus public criticism/scrutiny should be expected. In that moment, when Maryam and her guards tried to overpower and intimidate me, I felt for a minute the helplessness thousands of Pakistani’s feel for being unable to freely speak and live how they want. And to those who have criticised me for being an obnoxious overseas Pakistani, they are right that I am far from Pakistan, yet why do I feel more hurt for the way Pakistanis are being treated than some of those who actually live there? “
