Here is a little backstory.
Over the span of the past few days, one brave girl Filza Fatima, with MAJOR Coldplay fever, hailing from the hustle and bustle of Karachi took to Coldplay’s page on Facebook to write an open letter to the band calling for their presence in Pakistan.
Filza’s letter was followed up by a huge number of comments and love from fellow Coldplay fans just like her from all corners of Pakistan.
And, it was this reply that caught our attention!
In the wake of all that might happen… or NOT… our concern in regards to the matter was lifted up a notch when Filza got harassed by a troll (typical) who thought she was ruining the name of Pakistani girls (aurat keh naam peh dhabba.. and all that).
Filza, ever since then, has displayed an example of a proper show of character and has spoken up loud and CLEAR in support of every girl trying to take a stand against the wrath of a conservative, traditional and bigoted society.
To all the girls who have been shunned away and called out for no other reason than simply being a girl and having a voice of their own, here are some words straight from Filza’s heart:
Today’s digital world has evolved a lot. In this era of technology and progression, there are still some people who take an old school approach towards life. Such people need to be more accepting to the changes and adapt with the modern era instead of pulverizing people with their perspectives and beliefs. This is a shout out to everybody who were all frowned upon for having a difference of opinion. People who were bullied for believing in something or someone which according to other people’s perspective is considered ‘wrong’. People who tried reaching out but could not grasp on to someone solid. People who raised their voice and were brave enough to take a stand against a social evil but were shunned by the benighted individuals of the society. Do not back down ever! Do what you can to express yourself in all the possible ways!
Recently most of you must have read an article about me being harassed by a guy for expressing my love to my most favorite band- COLDPLAY. My crime was only to be a fangirl, expressing and over emphasizing my love and affection for Chris Martin. My fan letter went viral and I was ambushed by this random person who had the audacity to send me all those messages and then at the same time didn’t have enough balls to wait for my reply. He made a simple and innocent fan letter all sexually explicit. Like any other person, I took to my social media to post my rant and expose the dirty minded person behind it all. It all started with me posting about it on a closed group where women from all over the world share their issues and activities from their daily life. Few girls from there reached out to me and asked me to get it posted on a blog so it reaches most of the population that was not a part of that group. So, that’s what I did, with a help of a friend I got it posted on the blog and within few hours it went Viral. Other blogs picked it up and published it too with my consent.
I received tons and tons of appreciation messages from around the globe. People of authority reaching out to me and wanting to help me in getting my message through. The next step was to report it to the authorities, I had no clue how to do that. So, an angel sent from heaven above reached out to me and made me connect with the Deputy Director of FIA Cyber Crimes. The case has been filed and the concerned authorities are working on it as of now. There were few people on that group who told me that they know mutual friends/cousins of that guy and can get me some clarity as to why he did all this. I asked them to go ahead with that, and right after 2 hours of that the Abuser unblocked me to send some more nasty messages and telling me that no matter what I do, I can’t do anything about the abuse he inflicted on me and nothing that I do will have any effect on him. That is when I blocked him after sending him a two liner, “I have reported your sorry and confused ass to cybercrimes. Have fun”.
Once the post went viral, and the account from which I was abused was blocked, the abuser panicked and suddenly there was a new account by his name declaring his account was “hacked”. That is when I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and got in touch with the guy’s friends and family who wanted this all to settle peacefully. But they had no solid explanation of his account being hacked and even on my persistent request of sending me some sort of proof or apology they kept ignoring it. I even extended my hand and asked them to file a complaint with me against the person who hacked his account but I was given a cold shoulder over it. I then insisted them to provide me with a screenshot of a notification that every Facebook User gets once it’s accessed by an unknown device, upon which they told me that the email address with which the account was registered is very old and the password is forgotten and so the messages cannot be recovered. This was the turning point for me. I was 98 percent sure he did it but after hearing this I was 100 percent sure and quite adamant that I have got the right guy. Most of my questions are still unanswered. And I’m still looking forward to them being answered.
This was my comment on his post that he wrote declaring his innocence, this too was ignored:
Hi Samar, hope it’s really you this time. Let me give you the benefit of doubt and let’s hypothetically say your id was hacked, are you up in finding out who did this? I can amend my complaint to FIA and instead of fighting against you, I’ll fight with you. We can easily get the IP addresses traced. Please let me know if you’re in on it. Thanks
Out of the many good responses there were some very bad ones too. The people who did not get any lesson from my story and were yet again abusing me in my inbox calling me names and had a lot to say to me. They even shared my picture and uttered some more hate. (I have reported that too BTW) Some people had a negative approach to it. According to them I should have thought about the person’s image and family. They were constantly trying to make me look like a villain. I have a lot of questions for those people:
- If he is not the culprit, why isn’t he coming out clean with it already when he knows I wouldn’t rest until I get to the bottom of this?
- I asked them if they would like to join me in filing a case with FIA, we can get the IP address traced and that would lead us to our suspect, they did not respond. Why not?
- I even told them that I would get the bloggers to take down the post if he writes me an apology, owning up to it and promising not to repeat it again, the perpetrator used the words “I’m really sorry over something I haven’t even done, but I’m sorry. Please someone tell me what kind of apology is that
- If his id was hacked then why did the person using his identity, block me after saying shit to me? Usually when ids are hacked the hacker sends inappropriate messages to someone that is close to that person, or people in his lists. I was a total stranger.
- Can he prove this that his Id was hacked? Like people usually send out awareness messages to their friends and family about the hack. Can he prove that? And according to one of his friends his ID was hacked 20 days ago!
- I am very certain his id wasn’t hacked because his last post on his wall was referred to someone very close to him, and it was very recent. The person tagged in it had replied to him and there was a proper convo going on in the comments.
- If he was a hacker how did he come to know about the post i shared on the closed group, from where girls who knew him asked me if they could take screenshots and send it to him? Those screenshots were delivered to the actual person. And automatically after that he unblocked me to send some more nasty messages.
People have been saying I did this to seek attention. It’s not about seeking attention, it’s about raising your voice for what is right and what is wrong! It’s about setting an example by bringing matters that matter into the light. By making a difference. My post has enabled a lot of young people who have faced the same abuse and bullying but they couldn’t do anything about it for one reason or the other. Now people say I shouldn’t have read the messages nor accepted it, what is wrong with you? Do you ever stay silent and turn in another cheek when someone is abusing you and saying stuff about your parents? I’m sorry but no! I’m not the sort who lets other people mess with her easily and then get away with it.
People have manipulated my words into something they weren’t and have tried their level best to portray me as the villain. My point of these blogs was not to cause him any physical harm, but to teach him a lesson that he can’t do this and then get away without getting an apology out of him. And when somebody took an action against it, he started to wet his pants because he is wrong, then covers it up with the oldest trick in the book, that his account was hacked! This type of nonsense would not be tolerated anymore! I don’t understand why people take harassment so lightly. It scars your mind and soul forever if the necessary steps aren’t taken to recover from it. This is the limit. Somebody has to take a stand against it and I don’t mind being that person. I know there are going to be so many trolls that are going to make me regret my every move. But I’m not going to stay down. My family and friends are there to support me, and I’ll be your voice. People who can’t convey their messages and stories can reach out to me and I will try my level best to help them in every possible manner. I will be soon coming up with my own blog where I will be talking about and educating men and women both (that is FEMINISM), about cybercrimes and how reporting it can help you against your abuser. Because in the end
Come on and raise it
Come on raise this noise
For the million people
Who got not one voice
