The Daily Inside

A disturbing harassment case from Naran has gone viral across Pakistani social media after videos surfaced showing a man allegedly following, filming, and harassing women visiting the tourist area. The clips quickly spread online after activist and PTI party supporter Faizan Riaz publicly called on KP Police to identify the suspect and take strict legal action.

Soon after the outrage exploded online, reports emerged that the man had been arrested by Police and later issued a public apology. Social media users sarcastically joked that his “software got updated,” turning the phrase into a viral meme across X and TikTok. While many people mocked the suspect online, others argued that the incident exposed a much deeper and uglier reality inside Pakistani society.

For countless women in Pakistan, harassment is not some shocking one-time event. Catcalling, staring, filming women without consent, inappropriate touching, following women in public places, and victim blaming are things many women deal with almost daily. The saddest part is that society often questions the victim before questioning the man involved. “Why was she alone?” “Why was she dressed like that?” “Didn’t she know how men are?” These are the kinds of responses women constantly hear instead of clear condemnation of harassment itself.

Critics online say a dangerous mentality still exists in parts of society where some men wrongly assume that if a woman dresses differently, travels alone, or appears independent, she is somehow “available” or deserves harassment. Many women also pointed out that this case only became national news because it went viral through social media activism. Otherwise, similar incidents happen every single day across Pakistan without attention, accountability, or justice.

The incident has once again sparked debate around women’s safety, toxic masculinity, victim blaming, and the role social media now plays in exposing behavior that often goes ignored in everyday life.

The biggest problem with Pakistan is that corruption is no longer limited to politicians, it has infected the entire structure. From sections of media to institutions, police, religious opportunists, and power circles, too many people have normalized hypocrisy, propaganda, oppression, and injustice as if it is just part of everyday life. In any society with strong moral standards, revelations this serious would shake the entire country. In Pakistan, people move on in 24 hours while the same faces continue lecturing the public.

The cipher controversy exposed something deeper than politics. For years, journalists and TV analysts mocked people for even believing foreign interference was possible. Some outright denied the cipher existed. Others, including figures like Mansoor Ali Khan and Najam Sethi, dismissed it as “drama” or a “conspiracy theory.”

But now that documents and discussions have resurfaced publicly, the same people are no longer denying it. Instead, they are shifting the argument. “These kinds of ciphers are normal.” “It was low level diplomacy.” “It had nothing to do with regime change.” Maybe that sounds normal only in a country where people have become numb to humiliation and foreign pressure.

Because the question is still simple: if the United States was openly unhappy with Imran Khan, discussions around a vote of no confidence took place in the cypher and then the vote of no confidence removed him, how are people pretending that sequence means absolutely nothing?

And this is why many Pakistanis are furious with sections of the media today. Netizens are resharing old clips of journalists who confidently dismissed the cipher story for years. Critics online are now questioning the credibility and integrity of several media figures, arguing that instead of holding power accountable, many acted like propagandists protecting the status quo.

Whether people agree with Khan politically or not, one thing has become impossible to ignore: the conversation around the cipher has changed completely, and many of the people who once mocked it are now struggling to explain their old positions.