Senior anchorperson Mansoor Ali Khan, known for his hard-hitting shows, is no stranger to online trolling.
When Marvi Sirmed was abused on live television recently by writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar, Mansoor hosted a program with Qamar along with Resham and Dr Aamir Liaquat. Mr Khan then went on to demolish Qamar’s misogyny through logic. This show and his support for Aurat March led to some more trolling.
WATCH: Resham tells Khalil ur Rehman Qamar that he is not even worth one ‘taka’
On March 8, Khan went to the Aurat March in Lahore with his wife and his five-year-old son. Journalist Mehmal Sarfraz took their photograph and posted it online along with a few other photographs from the Aurat March.
Trolls photoshopped the blank piece of paper that Khan’s wife was holding.
Following this, Mansoor posted the original photo along with three photoshopped pictures:
Talking to The Current, Mansoor said, “I am always ready to get trolled or get targeted on social media by different political trolls or trolls belonging to various groups but this was the first time that the attack was on my family — which had my wife and five-year-old child in the picture.”
“Obviously I was disappointed and I was angry but my wife is the one who came up and stood next to me and said there is no reason to lose heart. She said: ‘When I decided to go to the Aurat March with you, I knew these things could happen and I was mentally prepared for that. I knew you were standing on the right path and I will wholeheartedly support you. Next year we are not just going to go with our 5-year-old but we will go with all our 3 sons to the Aurat March.’” he shared.
“Hats off to my wife. If she doesn’t have a problem with all these things, then why should I? Obviously we in Pakistan need a better mechanism to control such things, which unfortunately is lacking. The authorities need to step up a bit to check such things,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, AFP also ran a fact-check on the photos and confirmed that the words written on the placards were indeed doctored.
Earlier in an exclusive interview with The Current, when Mansoor was asked if he ever thought of leaving this profession because his family is targeted, Mansoor said, “Whatever I am today is because of my family. Whenever I am trolled, my family supports me a lot; they tell me to hold my ground no matter what happens and not deter. My family is my source of strength so I give them all the credit.”
Watch the full interview here:
