Actor Nadia Afgan argued that Pakistan's tendency to respond to vulnerability with violence whether the victim is a stray dog, a woman or a child stems from the same underlying problem: a lack of accountability.
Discussing Punjab's ongoing dog-culling drive during an interview, Nadia described the practice as a symptom rather than a solution to the issue of stray animals. She also questioned its legality, saying the Lahore High Court had previously ruled against methods such as poisoning or shooting stray dogs.
“In 2021, I found out there was a law; the Lahore High Court stated there's a law that you cannot cull dogs like this, you cannot poison them or shoot them, you cannot treat animals like this. But it is still happening. If the government itself is not abiding by the law, then what will the people do?” she said.
For Nadia, the issue is not simply the absence of legislation but the failure to enforce existing laws.
“Pakistan doesn't lack legislation,” she said. “I think there is a complete breakdown of everything here. It is a matter of accountability. It's not that we don't have laws; laws exist for everything, some built in 1902, some in 2021.”
She was careful not to present animal cruelty as an isolated issue. Instead, she described it as part of a wider pattern in which people and communities with less power are vulnerable to abuse.
“If we talk about abuse, whether it's inside homes, outside homes, whether it's animal abuse, abuse against children, women, workers, or any group or religious sect, everything is happening in our country, and it's happening openly,” she said.
She argued that cruelty towards animals, women and children can be traced to the same culture of normalising violence against those least able to resist it.
The conversation also touched on the emotional toll of repeatedly witnessing such incidents, from acid attacks to the mistreatment of rescue animals.
Nadia spoke about the particular helplessness of trying to raise awareness on social media, where serious issues can struggle to compete with celebrity gossip and online drama.
“You think about what you can do, you post something, and then you start hating yourself thinking, ‘What else am I doing besides this?’ You want to say something for the better, but you are so helpless. It destroys your mental health,” she said.
