Hina Butt: speak up and be heard

Everyone loves to brag. It is for this reason alone that a country so fixated on keeping an entire half of its population under chadar-char deewari wraps occasionally finds pleasure in talking about its first female prime minister in the Muslim world. Still, enjoying the showers of praise and paving the way for other just as determined leaders to follow suit are two entirely different things. Sadly for the patriarchal forces, the iron ladies of their country refuse to cede their ground. They aspire to soar through all glass ceilings and maintain their composure, however sticky the floor may be. They are ferocious to carve their names in the annals of history. Next up on the Daily Times’ list of overlooked superheroes is Hina Pervaiz Butt, a Pakistani politician routinely celebrated as one of the youngest women to enter the Punjab Assembly. Nowadays, Ms. Butt is busy making strides as she adds to her party’s appeal among the young. Her latest assignment as Youth Coordinator for the Heartland strikes at her heartstrings because she entered this field with one clear-cut goal: the inculcation of the architects of the future in mainstream politics. “I have always aspired to be an agent of change for those around me,” she said, further adding that “no matter what my position in the party may be, I have always thought about how to best raise my voice for the cause of my people.”The former assembly member was quite enthusiastic about the recent changes in her party’s line of action. “I have been saying for years that we cannot survive without building back the party.” This revamp would only happen, she stressed, if the leadership engaged with the women, the younger lot, and the progressive members-in essence, anyone who was in touch with the ground realities. Ms. Butt claimed to have jumped into the field after having done her homework. “I am always in touch with students, members of the journalist community, and literally anyone who seems to have a finger on the pulse to know the direction in which the tide needs to move.” For those who have been tracking her record, Ms. Butt has been a force to reckon with from the very beginning. In stark contrast to the general perception, she was never content with being a filler and instead chose to be an incredibly active part of the Punjab Assembly. The two terms come with a number of landmark bills and resolutions, the most significant of which touched upon the prohibition of hate speech, admissions of students from minority groups, domestic worker employment, protection of minorities, home-based workers, and the right to free and compulsory education. Her commitment to a one-of-a-kind Punjab Maternity Benefits Bill speaks volumes about how she is an enabler who believes in the growth of the entire clan. “Only by building a team of resilient women can we even hope for lasting progress,” she remarked. Ms. Butt claimed that as opposed to the conventional hate culture, which feeds on insecurities. All women should work towards a synergy where the best versions of themselves, in unison with their sisters, would help Pakistan enter a new, bright day. The confidence to recognize her strengths and weaknesses might be a God-given gift, but the PML-N leader also spoke highly of a number of diverse experiences both at home and abroad that have equipped her with a positive outlook to take on the world. The days she spent as a student at Lahore University of Management Sciences and Middlesex University offered her an excellent opportunity to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and approaches to life. The extraordinariness of her selection at the Harvard Kennedy School on top of her contributions as a young global leader at summits like the World Economic Forum is enough to dispel any misogynistic notion. In Hina Butt, we have not only a doer but also someone who wishes to first learn everything about the task before calling her shots. It is disturbingly tragic how all of these achievements fail to make it to our screens, thanks in part to the toxic culture, which is still fixated on its dark-age notions. No matter how well-educated and unparalleled a woman may be as a performer, eyes around her refuse to focus on anything but age-old perceptions. Ms. Butt, too, has repeatedly found herself standing on the other side of the trolling barrel, where everything from her social media posts to her wardrobe choices is fair game. Quite interestingly, when asked about how she manages to keep her head above water, she flashed one of her signature smiles and asserted, “Don’t read. Don’t react.” She recalled having met Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who, at one point, had become so disillusioned in the wake of vicious trolling that she had called it quits on Twitter. “I told her exactly what I am about to tell you now: if I actually wish to change my life and be a source of light in this dark, dark room, I cannot survive without a thick skin.”