Shaming Maya: Two wrongs don’t make a right

Published: January 30, 2012

She poked her nose in other people’s business without any justification or moral authority, and now other people are doing the same to her.

The Book of Love is full of charts, and facts and figures, and instructions for dancing, at least according to The Magnetic Fields, later confirmed by Peter Gabriel. Both the indie band and the legendary former Genesis lead singer also agree that they love it when someone reads to them from it. Unfortunately, it seems that nobody ever read to Maya Khan from it. That can be the only reason she takes so much offence to young love.

Now, I’m probably wrong on both counts, given the amount of pictures and video of her indulging in extra-mehram-al relations with men, including (gasp!) videos of her dancing to (double gasp!) Indian music, but whatever her story may be, the reaction to her assault on the average Karachiite in love was no less an invasion of privacy than the actions of Khan and the cackle of aunties she had in tow.

Khan’s pictures, which have (thankfully) had the faces of her unfortunate male and female friends censored, mostly seem to have been snapped at private events held at privately-owned venues, whereas her antics took place in a public park. That doesn’t make what she did any less bad, but it does give strength to the argument that her harshest critics are no less hypocritical than her.

She poked her nose in other people’s business without any justification or moral authority, and now other people are doing the same to her. Both sides seem motivated less by morality or rationality, and more by personal causes, namely higher ratings on one hand, and revenge/opposition to right-wing causes/‘liberal-fascism’ on the other.  Skipping to one of the more exaggerated comparisons drawn on her, she is not the new rendition of the Lal Masjid/Jamia Hafsa brigade.

1. She isn’t kidnapping people.

2. She isn’t operating a terrorist training camp.

3. She will be in just as much trouble as any other female anchor if the real rightwing takes over.

She is not even the second coming of Meher Bokhari, who helped spark the fire against Salmaan Taseer by regurgitating nonsense spouted by mullahs about him being a good Muslim (while wearing western-style pants and a button-down shirt), and then tastelessly ran adverts for her show calling her the country’s most dangerous journalist.

She is, at worst, another talking (air)head, fond of seeing herself on TV and willing to do whatever it takes to keep herself on air and make some cash.

Just change the channel.

Read more by Vaqas Asghar here and follow him @vasghar.

Vaqas Asghar

Vaqas Asghar



  • Hamza Balouch(@H_Balouch)

    In Maya Khan story… Pakistani liberals are behaving like “ghariat brigade” !!Recommend

  • abdul jabbar

    why wasn’t there any outrage over a despicable show maya did in which a female gave out a disgusting sexist recipe for ” Beti ka achaar” ? that was a new low for pakistani society that an all female show was dishing out more hate and bigotry against the female gender. why do pakistani women hate their gender so much? why do they consider females to be inferior to men and are always trying their best to stab other women in the back? another piece of tabloid trash is appearing on A plus tv,where the host sets up hidden cameras and totally invades the privacy of people by recording them in their private room without their knowledge and in the process seeks to out lesbian couples to the ,will the channel and its management accept responsibility when the women are killed for the sake of honour in an honour killing? does our media feel the need to promote homophobia and violence against gays and lesbians?Recommend

  •!/Pugnate Noman Ansari

    I have to disagree with you Vaqas. She was being a massive hypocrite, and is now feeling the wrath of the internet.

    Posting private pictures of her seems to be going a touch too far, but saying something like, “Just change the channel” seems to be trivializing the sentiments of those who were rightly angered by her privacy violations.

    “She is, at worst, another talking
    (air)head, fond of seeing herself on
    TV and willing to do whatever it takes
    to keep herself on air and make some

    I am sorry, but she is far worse than that. Any one of those people she highlighted on her show could have had their lives ruined. Again, putting up her private pictures for public viewing is terrible, but I don’t think the angry mob is simply doing it out of a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. It is more out of a misplaced need to show her hypocrisy.

    The liberals of Pakistan aren’t simply striking her; they are striking her back. Recommend

  • Dr. Amyn Malik

    Thank you for writing this, Vaqas! We as a society do think that 2 wrongs make a right and that if someone stoops down it is essential to stoop to their level and strike back and then we justify it by saying hey they started it or that this step was/is essential to show their true face or to stop the wrong that is being done not realizing that we are being just as hypocritical. This theme is carried forward in all our doings.

    And before I get murdered by the liberals who will be commenting henceforth, I do agree that what Maya Khan did was a horrible act and could cost people their lives.Recommend

  • faraz khan

    @abdul jabbar:

    nothing will be done against the channel secretly filming couples using hidden cameras where the couples are not straight.our ‘liberals’ and ‘secular’ people are as homophobic and bigoted as the religious fanatics are.that’s why there hasn’t been any social media campaign or petitions against the said channel,if the channel had secretly filmed straight couples in the privacy of thier bedrooms,twitter and facebook would have been up in arms against the atrocity.Recommend

  • S

    Dumb article!! She is harassed people, she wanted people to move around as per her ethics of rule..ofcourse its the ideology of lal masjid mullani brigade!! Shame on Maya!Recommend

  • Saima

    @Noman Ansari

    “Any one of those people she highlighted on her show could have had their lives ruined.”

    If there was nothing wrong happening then I doubt the question of someone’s life being ruined comes up. That being said she did not do things right however, the arguments being given against her dont show me anything “liberal” about the people who are criticising her. Extremism is extremism no matter which side you are on.

    More or less everyone comes out as a hypocrite. Maybe we all should criticise ourselves this severly and not just Maya Khan, we may get somewhere.Recommend

  • Duniya

    Finally I read something balanced, otherwise, whatever was said or publish until now was the two extremes. Recommend

  • Munnazir

    wow this piece let me believe that i can write too , o bahi she has put lives of boys and girls in danger ? in a society where honour killings is in high was it good to give courage to people to do moral policing ?? it would be hypocritical if we were condemning acts of girls of lal masjid and not condemning maya khan just because she is a “life style liberal”?Recommend

  • Munnazir

    each and every logic (comments) given in this article are wrong , the article is saying just spare her because she is not from an extremist group , although her actions were equally harmful for society as the actions of lal masjid people wereRecommend

  • Habibies

    Maya Khan is a Super Duper Shameless Women…Recommend

  • Zeeshan

    Hi! The problem with our media is that they give themselves the right to call things Right or wrong whatever and whenever it suits them. Private Media is not a court of justice or a court room or some organization related directly to the State, moreover in the name of Free Media these private channels are violating many things about which most of us do not know at all because we are the type of people who never knew and wont like to know about our very basic rights. I ask these media dudes one thing, when Mehr Bukhari, Asma Shirazi, Sana Bucha, Kamran Khan, Kashif Abbasi and all these Designer Models sit in those chambers and start to sweat the people, from common pakistanis to politicians, sometimes bringing Rape issues on talk shows, sometimes bringing Taboo issues on talk show, has any one else the power and right to criticise them? I have seen almost each one of them atleast once in the dirtiest of gatherings, which if you evaluate can be called as the gathering where every morality and value perishes. I wonder why We, the Pakistani people are so much pre-occupied by them. They are far worse than us, the only thing is that the private channels have supports of the politicians and these dudes are presented to us as heroes. I feel ashamed that a woman like Mehar Bukhari sits in those type of dresses and talks about Tawheen E Risalat or talks against Veena Malik. Dear Anchors, what are your own Moral Values.Recommend

  • Habiba Younis

    change the channel
    yea great advice, simply just ignore what irresponsible media persons are doing! next time if u hear some mullah preaching hate simply switch to any other mosque. what Social accountability? just ignore it.
    this post couldn’t have been a more lamer.Recommend

  • Bee

    “What goes around..comes around!!”Recommend

  • SAJ

    I just don’t know why our electronic media is not giving any coverage to this kinda “journalist related issues”. i dint catch a single TV channel that said Maya Khan has been fired. just heard one anchor saying “one anchor has been sacked” not naming her. Unlike politicians, if they do something wrong they make sure they name the person till death…Recommend

  • sars

    True enough shes not committing the sort of crimes militants are or sectarian and target killer are. Having said that if she were not given the message that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable then her next shows would be “chaapas” at shopping stores, colleges, peoples back yards, the street.

    These are not bad messages to send :

    A mind your own business and let people worry about morality on their own
    B dont harrass people who havent come to your show to be made fools of
    C dont lie to people (cameras are off)
    D Dont gang up 20:1 on any poor souls (couple or not) thats what a mob is and we all know what mobs are capable of Recommend

  • Urooj Shuja’at Ali Janjua

    @abdul jabbar:
    When did that happen? Wow, I’m totally out of touch with the so called “cutting edge” journalism streak of the illiterate Pakistani media so far. We could lodge a complaint, no? Seeing how you know about this program, you write the petition and I, sure as hell, would sign it and send it to the concerned authorities.Recommend

  • Ilmana Fasih

    I think the problem was because Maya resisted apology. A little humility saves one from loads of humiliation.
    But what I think most media missed was to address the issue Maya was dealing with…since millions of Moms and Dads thought she was doing in goodwill…to save their girls from risk of being abused, raped or killed during dates.Dating abuse is a reality all over the world. But her method of approaching the issue was ghastly wrong.

    If we really mean a change, the liberal intellectuals need to take the role of reformers of the society too, from the shackles of ultra conservatism, and orthodoxy, not just mock and ridicule the latter.

    Please be aware that 99% of date rapes in Pakistan are left unreported, for obvious reasons. We just need to empower the girls and boys of how to prevent them.Recommend

  • maheen usmani

    I’m amazed that ET Blogs has seen fit to embed Maya’s private pics in a blog which advocates her right to privacy. C’mon guys, please remove the link.. it’s in very bad taste indeed. Maya shaming has gone far enough and we should not be poking our noses in her private life.. otherwise what’s the difference between us and her? Recommend

  • Liberal

    Pakistan should be a free society where there should be no moral values. Recommend

  • Zeeshan

    The people who have posted her pics are surely her enemies because surely such pictures are supposed to be found with the people who have been with her to these Private places. Common people like you and me cant have these images. BUT, the coverage of the couples she showed the 18 crore Herd of Sheep , these couples were not her enemies, neither were they supposed to be exposed on tv like this. Still no one can figure out what was she intending, was she assuming some Medal of Honor for herself from somewhere or whatever, but as we say that AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP. And she proved the Newton’s 3rd Law. And surely the factor of Nature will be involved, we have heard always WA TU’IZZU MANN TASHAA’O WA TUZILLU MANN TASHAA’O……….Maya Khan seemed to have forgotten that the Nature is always operational, and its wrath is the worst wrath when it comes. I have to make on simple point, these Media dudes need to be accounted for. When you say a word against them, they start crying like babies that MEDIA KI AZAADI and FREEDOM OF SPEECH and no authorities seem to be stopping them because the authorities are surely afraid of them as they know any channel can expose them any time. These media dudes totally work as white-collar gangsters and blackmailers and nobody is out there to see what really goes on. But what can we say, Pakistan is such a Zindabad country that Raat Gayee Baat Gayee… We can only hope and pray for the best.Recommend

  • Abdullah

    This proves that Pakistani’s are extremist in their views whether Islamists or Liberals.Recommend

  • Vaqas Asghar

    @Habiba Younis:

    the last line is a metaphor for pressurise/boycott the channel so that they fire her .Have her arrested too if that applies, but just because she is breaching someone’s privacy, don’t violate hers.
    I was very happy to know she had been fired, but there was no need to stoop to her level when she could’ve been forced out through formal complaints, which is exactly what happened in the end (i filed this just before her firing was confirmed)

    @Noman Ansari:
    Point, but my argument was more along the lines that a simple fire her campaign and pressure on advertisers would be enough to ensure she lost her job and would have trouble getting another. Trying to humiliate her seems vindictive.Recommend

  • Zeeshan

    @ Fasih…you cant stop dating and all these…your point is valid, but cases are rare. These things begin at Homes. If you give the training of trust to the kids at home, they obey parents. Id you let them do what they want, surely humans follow the negative tendencies. Its more of a philosophic issue than a social one. I assure you, Maya was just a Wannabee trying to be DIFFERENT and wanted to do something new. and believe me, we see the other types of programs where anchors somehow find rape victims or etc and bring them to tv, we see that next day another channel launches same type of program and then the other channel and all. If this thing wasnt stopped, i assure you the next day would have seen all the other anchors going to parks and places and filming couples and that would have ruined all the thing. Well, Maya asserted that such couples should go to private places then, so what did she mean, should people go to rest houses and guest houses and etc, coz in Pak Sarzameen these are the private places then. She messed with others, and nature messed her, and i hope next time a media dude goes to film such couples would get beaten like hell and would be made a history. Here we show our hypocrisy. Maya surely deserves a court trial for this.Recommend

  • Anthony Permal

    Dear Ilmana Fasih,

    If 99% of the cases are not reported, then how do you know they happen? Please don’t over-exaggerate just to support your baseless claim.Recommend

  • Amjad

    I am sorry but Maya Khan is in the media and she was obviously stoking the flames of public opinion with nonsense. Why should she be shocked or hurt when those flames come back to consume her? It is good that it sends a clear message to people. Don’t talk about corruption or the problems of others without fixing yourself first. Notice how everyone in Pakistan calls the police or the teachers or the parliamentarians or the generals corrupt but they themselves are the first to offer a bribe or cheat. I think there is a very important lesson for all of us in this episode- not just Maya Khan but I am sure she will think twice before accusing others.Recommend

  • Faraz Talat

    The spamming of Maya’s private pictures across the internet was unfortunate, but necessary in order to expose her for the shameless hypocrite that she is.

    The best way to defend the society against moral dictatorship is to expose the antics of the self-proclaimed thaykedars of morality, thus reminding them that the sword they wield is double-edged. Once this concept is clarified to them, they quietly return to their own businesses, and stop coaching others on how to conduct theirs.Recommend

  • Bee

    @Ilmana Fasih:
    If parents r really so concerned about their daughters security that they don’t mind their or others daughters being scrutinized by Maya khan & Co. then y do they allow them to hang out, let alone to go on date in the first place? Recommend

  • Amer

    Maya Khan should be trialed for her piracy of privacy of people..Recommend

  • MK

    I think this is an inane article. Trying to defend what Maya did is by no means justified. For once, the ‘liberals’ actually did the right thing – standing up for universally acknowledged rights of EVERY person’s right to privacy. Maya just tried to do a witch hunt – best way to shut up a witch (sorry to say this, but thats precisely what she was, by her actions), is to witch the witch. Call a spade a spade, and truth prevails.Recommend

  • Shamy

    Can we ask the author if his views would be the same if something like this happened in his family ?Recommend

  • Vaqas Asghar

    Read my comment above, i am not defending her at all. I am in favour of her firing and of legal action against her, i only oppose the invasion of her privacy to try and show what she did was hypocritical. Jail time and a massive fine would be sufficient punishment.Recommend

  • Saima

    I sorta agree with the author. To start with anywhere in the world she could not have gotten away with a stunt like this, she would have ultimately lost her job….which she did in this case too. However the important thing to note here is that why is she the only one paying the price? It was not like she went out on her own with a camera and released footage on youtube…it is an entire channel! Somebody was holding the camera, someone edited the footage and ofcourse someone gave a go-ahead to the program. Acnchors don’t run channels, if they goof-up and say something they are not supposed to…..the footage is not allowed to go on air. Morning show-hosts and even new analysits are only human, they make mistakes….which is why they should not be allowed to go rampant…It is high time the channels realize their responsibility!Recommend

  • Arsalan Kabeer

    Even if something wrong is happening there does not permits Television Channels to telecast it in a live Program. Our religion also preaches us to conceal sins of others if we wish to overlook our sins on the judgement day by ALLAH .

    Though i believe maya did this show purely to increase ratings of her program and channel, but Overall, its one of such act that insist upon the notion that these media channels should be under some bar on knowing to Telecast what is good and what is not acceptable in our society. Recommend

  • Umer Rasheed

    This seems like a failed attempt to uplift Maya’s image. I am sorry but it does. She should be thankful she is not thrown into jail as yet. The footage of her dancing was taken from her own show not through some spy cam hence there was no invasion of privacy. All the pictures shown in the media did not reveal the identity of the non-mehrams she was hanging out with. Recommend

  • Disappointed

    To ET Web Editor:
    Shame on ET for embedding the link to the pictures. She got what she deserved, why are we subjecting her to the same antics that we condemned her for in the first place. If ET is really against invasion of privacy of individuals, and dragging peoples lives into the public arena, then my request to the web editor is to REMOVE THE LINK.
    To the rest of the Commenters: ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS! This is the point the guy is trying to make, no matter how stupid and hypocritical she was, the activists achieved their ends (which is the apology and cancellation of her show) further humiliation all over the internet of maya khan is UNNECESSARY achieves no objective what so ever.
    Also for all those ranting about her hypocrisy – Oh C’mon spare me please. EVERYONE including me has a closet full of skeletons, we all have done things we are not so proud of, and all of us have a tendency to be a hypocrite about something or the other at some point. It does not give a right to ANYONE to public humiliate an individual using their private indiscretions. Shes not the President of Pakistan or an elected official FFS.
    Seriously, the overdrive I have seen from some of the internet activists over this matter has been astonishing. Why can’t we achieve our objectives in a dignified principled manner without getting into the cesspool.Recommend

  • Cynical

    Finally someone shows some sympathy for Maya Khan.No doubt we are maturing as a society.Recommend

  • Umer Rasheed

    This article is a classic example where authors think that they can just scribble anything in dissonance with the popular opinion and label it as “other side of the coin”. News Flash: Harassing people has no other side of the coin my friend. Maya Khan has remained highly insensitive and alarmingly stubborn as she still fails to understand what she did wrong. All the media campaign would have decayed automatically had she apologized properly. Just watch the latest episode of “Sochta Pakistan” on youtube and you would realize how utterly stupid she really is. She said and I quote: “Mein to neke kerne nikli thi……” I sincerely hope she is sued properly, fined heavily and banned from television. Recommend

  • Mariah Farooqi

    Look, if you’re going to write an article, at least do your research, for any matter. I saw the headline, and merely for seeing the other point of view, I clicked on the article. I rolled my eyes throughout, because there’s no backing up/no supporting claim at all about any specific stance. It’s one thing to gossip on national television, but the fact that Maya Khan physically went out to the park and interrogated people ON PUBLIC BROADCAST (in front of camera)- that’s total violation of any ethics in media literacy. A common reporter even knows that much. When someone doesn’t known their boundaries and crosses the line (Like Maya did), there is something COMPLETELY wrong with this.

    Geez, I’m surprised she hasn’t gotten punched by anyone yet. If it was anyone else, they would have been beaten up horribly by now. At least, she’s receiving her punishment with society’s wrath now.Recommend

  • Vaqas Asghar

    Thanks for getting and appreciating my point.Recommend

  • http://gmail rabya saleem

    Wowwww this onz reallyyyy awsum n specifically luv da way tz written =)Recommend

  • Shakky

    Maya Khan’s egregious behavior was the thin end of an insidious wedge. Had it not been protested, others (perhaps in the media) would have taken that as a sign that her harassment and intimidation of innocent couples is acceptable behavior, which would have led to more such incidents happening. The outcry and her being sacked sends a clear message that its not OK to do what she did. A message which would not have been conveyed simply by “changing the channel”. Recommend

  • Parvez

    What Maya did and then what swiftly happened to her is an excellent case of self correction by the industry itself. This is stiff punishment for anyone and kicking someone whose down is just not how its done – on this count I agree with the author.
    You brought up Meher Bokhari but left out Aamir Liaquat ??Recommend

  • Raza

    Okay the author has a point, but its not about the content of the show, that the problem will go away by changing the channel. She did a public wrong, that hurt two innocent individuals, so thats why the campaign was right to get her fired. The pictures and videos only expose her own hypocrisy; why attack others over something which you yourself, by your own standards, are guilty of?Recommend

  • Red

    It is when we tolerate all the Mayas of society that, slowly but surely, more insidious actions start taking place. Every minor violation of privacy should be roundly condemned so that no one ever dares to take it even one step further. These are not the kind of times that incidents of moral policing can be easily dismissed in. Recommend

  •!/Pugnate Noman Ansari


    To be fair, he isn’t defending her at all. Recommend

  • Aloof

    Change channels shall we? Isn’t the behavior similar to what we criticized in jamia hafsa case?Recommend

  • Aruna

    The pictures circulating are wrong and in bad taste. However please remember that Maya Khan was fired not because of those silly pictures you mention but as a result of a formal complaint and petition to the channel management signed by thousands of members of civil society.

    Sorry but changing the channel is not good enough. What she did was not only wrong but illegal. Maya Khan actually broke a few laws there. She should thank her stars the campaign ended with her firing and the show going off air, instead of pushing it further to get her arrested, which would actually have set an example for other similar anchors who blatantly ignore media ethics. Recommend

  • GS@Y

    The writer is plainly mistaken. People were not being hypocritical when they posted pictures and videos of Maya Khan in ‘extra-mehram-al’ situations. Unless somebody hacked into Maya’s Facebook or used some other underhanded way of obtaining those pictures, they were publicly available and could, therefore, justifiably be used as evidence of her inconsistency and hypocrisy. I saw those pictures as evidence of a deeply flawed character not because they showed her doing something objectionable, but because they depicted her doing something something similar to what Maya publicly censured and humiliated completely innocent people for. Those pictures were entirely permissible evidence.

    That said, evidence of a private nature is often used to make points of public interest. Consider Monica Lewinsky’s dress, or the telephone records presented by one of Herman Cain’s main accusers, or evidence of the gay liaisons of some US televangelists… the list goes on. Recommend

  • Umar

    I think that you are missing the point. People did not put those photos of Maya Khan on social networking sites to replicate what she did. Their message was very simple. Clean your act before you criticize others.

    Not the best article you have written. The logic is seriously flawed. Recommend

  • Adeel Ahmed

    We must also condemn “Liberal Extremism”, otherwise we become just like pendulum from one extreme to other extreme.Recommend

  • SA

    Finally somebody writes without a tone of extremism! Good one Vaqas!!Recommend

  • Amna

    @Liberal: I think Pakistan is on its way to becoming “no morals society”. Maya khan is an example.
    Extremely disappointed. Recommend

  • Saqib

    Only One svere mistake was, she should not show the faces of the boys and girls (some blur faces), media use a beep on every wrong talk but this programme can use some Recommend

  • youth

    These anchors like maya khan, mehar bukhari, jasmeen manzoor, kamran khan, mubashir luqman and others who want us to see pakistan with their point of view should be simply kicked off for all those years they have wasted our time and make us feel that pakistan is going to dark ages……Recommend

  • Javeria mahmood

    I am always agree with this Author…..Recommend

  • Hala

    I agree with the author completely.
    Why can people not see the irony of shaming someone for shaming someone else.
    i am not defending maya khan
    what she did was wrong
    she should be fired
    but not because she is “a hypocrite and a horrible person and i hate her!” (which seem to be a lot of the sentiments here)
    but because she was not professional
    she has responsibility as a television host and she did not fulfill it
    she had no right to harass and accost people
    if she can’t see that, she can not be trusted to host a show

    but the problem with calling her a hypocrite is that you inadvertently imply that if she was not a hypocrite, if those pictures did not exist, if she for example wore a burka and stayed home all day and never spoke to any men,
    in that case it would be ok for her to do what she did
    of course your not saying that
    then why does her being a hypocrite have any relevance to the matter
    i’m sure she is one, but that’s not the point
    she is not wrong because she’s a hypocrite she’s wrong because she is imposing her views, whether they really are her’s or not, on someone else
    by your own logic- she can only criticize the people at the park, if she has never ever been on a date,
    then follows- you can only call her a hypocrite if you have never ever been guilty of any kind of hypocrisy in your life
    can you honestly say this

    condemn the act, not the person
    she has done something no one approves of
    it was a bad thing
    not defending her
    but she may have done good things in her life
    calling her evil is the easy way out
    “she did this cause she is evil
    we would never do this because we are not”
    by calling her evil, you are letting everyone else off the hook
    the question isn’t why she did what she did
    but why there were all those other women with her
    not why she put rating above ethics
    but why she felt pulling such a stunt would increase ratings

    the sentiment that was in the show exists in society
    to get rid of that you don’t point out who the evil people are
    you work on removing those characteristics in yourself
    society will only improve as a whole when people start taking personal inventory
    self reflect and be accountable for your own actions
    moral policing does not work
    no matter who is doing the policing

    on the other hand people should be proud of themselves
    internet activism does work
    you said that this show is offensive to us, the channel listened
    that is a great thing
    that means people have power to bring change if they work together
    but now that you do have that power, isn’t it up to you to use it responsibly Recommend

  • Munir Ahmad Saeed

    posting pictures was in bad taste and breach of trust, since the entire group in those pictures was there and not forced to be there, posting these images is in some ways invasion of privacy by peers or friends. However what she did was an informed choice as an adult, going after young people was a criminal idea, it may lead to serious consequences, she put the safety of young people at risk. One also beds to be aware of the fact that date rapes do not happen in public parks but in the privacy of people’ homes. Chasing young people is a criminal act and firing her from the show is fine but she should not be the only one.Recommend

  • javaria javed

    dear writer! im partly agree wid ur comments she did bad with others so she fired.People always reap what they sow that’s why people upload her inappropriate pics..Also these are low standards news channels have no standards. when these channels disobeying the rules of pemra , government starting ban G,J,A,S channels then people start protest against gov. And they think all media group is just pious. So people leave her alone and don’t give them so much importance to these people who just want to sell their show by any means. :)Recommend

  • Lone Star

    One journalist defending the other one, undoubtly Vaqas Asghar is risking his own credibility by defending the other “yellow journalist”.

  • Adnan

    I would like to mention the fact that its not hypocritical of critics to do what they did, its simply called showing the mirror! Seriously, what do you suggest should have been done with this type of media pawns? our influential society is a combination of literate and illiterate people. Here is the reality, influential people in our society are measured on the basis of money so just like you can’t defeat the king or queen without getting through the pawns in chess so is the case with our country and its operations.

    In this case Maya Khan is the first step to a better media!Recommend

  • Blooper

    Hey!! some one please tell what did she do wrong?? I mean I just don’t know??? Elaborate please…Recommend

  • Sid

    I think there is come confusion, People posted the videos and pics are objecting on the same “immoral” “not permissible things in our society” not on the invasion of privacy thing. these people are fade up with the self lecturing hypocrates not on the breaking of public/privacy issues of some one.
    Waste of timeRecommend

  • Thakur

    “Just change the channel”….and hope they never invade your privacy or summon the blasphemy brigade to lynch your father. Maya was targeted because she’s a huge hypocrite. You’re arguments don’t carry much weight. You know what it was Mr. Asghar: “Vigilantism”….And Maya Khan was targeted because Pakistanis have become sick and tired of self-righteous vigilantes like her.Recommend

  • ahmed

    @Habibies: no doubtRecommend

  • Seema Shaikh

    We must not repeat same what we were condemning maya Khan, I agree with the writer,Recommend

  • Waseem

    By the Way, Where media claimed that MAYA was dancing with a guy that happened to be her NEPHEW, So this was a lie that Media used against her…On top of that Media has Showed her personal Pictures on their Television and claiming that she was on dates, Hmmm Interesting How can it be dates, when she is with her husband in most of those Picture…First Media itself needs to stop lying about others and needs to tell the truth…..This Whole Maya thing is just nothing but a Bogus Scam……Apparrantly Media itself has Invaded her personal and Private Life……Having Pics with her Own Husband is neither a crime nor unethical in any culture and religion…..Recommend

  • Dr Mohammad Jalil

    I think Ms Maya khan was working for her fame rather than making the society a conservative in which no place for different sex to sit or even talk. Just to ask a question how much she is following her tradition and religion. see her dress and shouting between males but in our hypocritic society what we do for our fame we add Islam and tradition as surea name and what we dont like personally label them as against religion and tradition. very sad to see the behavior of our Media totally irresponsible media but good for illetrate people with out any work to see, hear our immature media for time passing as live drauma.Recommend

  • EN

    A refreshing article. I completely agree. Recommend

  • bulls eye!

    @vaqas asgher : truth be told i think u penned down this article splendidly and truth be told i couldnt agree with you more. to some extend i affirm that her poking nose in other peoples buisness is worst that the harsh attitude she is facing on television herself…private pictures and videos being uploaded is that all one can do? moreover let shed some light here is it integral that the a pakki queen of drama theatrics miss veena malik had to shout her lungs out so that her point was made…maya didnt do that..she most cretainlycried her eyes out but to some extend is she is under house arrest and yes she hired actors and credence over media is questionable. but i think she has suffered enough and its about time we all let it go…
    vaqar i also wanted to ask you comment on the pens vs sword article i really loved it but for some odd reason i couldn’t comment..that too is a brilliant piece ..i wsh u gave classes on journalismRecommend