Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz dismissed “rumours spread on social media” related to the alleged on-campus rape of a student in Lahore, terming it a “fabricated story”. Addressing a press conference, she said an issue was made out of an incident that never existed in the first place.

However, celebrities have been speaking out after a security guard allegedly raped a student at a private college in Lahore. They’re calling for justice as well as the guarantee of students’ well-being on campus. Prominent figures from the entertainment industry, including Ayesha Omar, Kinza Hashmi, Sanam Jung, Mahira Khan, Sarwat Gillani and Durefishan Saleem, all spoke out against the incident.

“How long will we tell our daughters to be ‘careful’? You all are part of this rape culture if you have ever been part of a culture where it’s normal to be blaming the victim,” Saleem wrote on Instagram. “Every abuse, every injustice, every cruelty will require an answer,” Yumna Zaidi wrote in Urdu, calling for justice for the victim. Gillani shared a post from the Aurat March and condemned negligence in the safety and security of women in the workplace or educational facilities. Mahira Khan also shared a video of students protesting and called the incident “shameful”.

Other celebrities, including Maya Ali, Wahaj Ali, Zara Noor Abbas, Hadiqa Kiani, Naimal Khawar, Aiman Khan and Hira Mani, reshared Instagram templates which called for sons’ education instead of daughters’ protection and detailed the occurrence, as well as new stories about what happened.