On Saturday, March 4, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Lahore, Pakistan denied permission to hold the ‘Aurat March’ scheduled to be held on March 8, commemorating International Women’s Day. The permission was denied due to ‘security concerns’ and ‘controversial’ placards and banners put up across various cities in the country, promoting women’s rights.
According to reports, the permission for the annual event, which was started about four years ago, was denied also due to the possibility of clashes with Islamists participating in the counter-rallies called the ‘Haya March.’
Haya March was started by members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan where burqa-clad women take to the streets to oppose the Aurat March on women’s day.
The Aurat March organising committee had sought a no objection certificate (NOC) from the district government so that it could plan the rally around Nasser Bagh in Lahore on March 8.
DC Rafia Haider, however, released a statement in which it was stated that the plea was rejected in the wake of threat alerts from security agencies.
“Following the current security scenario, threat alerts, and law and order situation, and in light of activities like controversial cards and banners for awareness of women’s rights and the strong reservation of the general public and religious organizations, especially JI’s women’s and student wings, who had also announced a program against the Aurat March,” said a statement issued by the DC.
Following the denial, the Aurat March organising committee posted a long thread of tweets wherein it castigated the DC for rejecting their application to hold the event. “The denial of NOC cites the ‘Haya March’ by the JI as the reason for denial. The DC herself acknowledges that the Jamaat has “announced a program against the Aurat March”, yet it is the March that is being denied its constitutional right, not the group inciting violence, the committee wrote in one of the tweets it posted condemning the decision taken by DC, Lahore.
We would like to ask @DCLahore @commissionerlhr why they denied permission to a peaceful march on women’s day?
— عورت مارچ لاہور – Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) March 3, 2023
Why is the interim government allowing PSL to happen but not a political march for women’s rights? @MohsinnaqviC42#AuratMarch2023 #MarchTuHoga https://t.co/nhXZt2Bp5y pic.twitter.com/N8XnKHn0IZ
“The DC’s actions are a blatant denial of our fundamental rights as a people’s movement. We do not require an NOC to exercise our constitutional right to march. There is no legitimate “public order” rationale to prevent us from assembling, marching and making our voices heard,” the committee added.
The DC’s actions are a blatant denial of our fundamental rights as a people’s movement. We do not require an NOC to exercise our constitutional right to march. There is no legitimate “public order” rationale to prevent us from assembling, marching and making our voices heard.
— عورت مارچ لاہور – Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) March 3, 2023
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Aurat March was first organized in 2018 on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8th, after which it has become an annual event. On this day, women march in various cities of Pakistan demanding equality and freedom.
Like every year, this year’s Aurat March has also become the target of the Pakistani Islamists who got triggered over the women raising their voices. Several took to the microblogging site Twitter to criticise the movement.
Islamists in Pakistan slam Aurat March
Twitter user @Kabeermkk98 was so triggered that he went on to refer to the women who participate in the rally as a “bunch of a few frustrated blue and pink-haired Shabanas who get a chance to scream in the streets once a year.”
Aurat March is nothing but a political tool and fraud. It isn’t even a “movement.” It’s just a bunch of few frustrated blue and pink haired Shabanas who get a chance to scream in the streets once a year. They don’t represent the average woman’s issues in Pakistan.
— Kabeer aka Dead Guy (@Kabeermkk98) February 25, 2023
Another Twitter user Muhhamad Owais opined that taking part in ‘Aurat March was Haram.
It is completely HARAM for Muslims to take part or support Aurat March.
— Muhammad Owais (@Muhammad_Owaiis) March 1, 2023
Their agenda is clear, to promote liberal values in Pakistan in the guise of women rights. pic.twitter.com/BfoMVOKHPS
Still another angry Islamist going by the Twitter handle @AbidiAlyFCMA, tweeted images of dogs, suggesting that the ladies who take part in the “Aurat March” are nothing more than dogs.
Aurat March 🐕🐕#AuratMarch2023 pic.twitter.com/tXIKko2yfl
— سید علی حیدر عابدی (@AbidiAlyFCMA) March 4, 2023
Pakistani Twitter user Shehnila Zardari shared images of posters that have sprung all across Pakistan ahead of the event, asking women to maintain ‘modesty’ and ‘decency.’
Banners have sprung up all over the city demanding women to have modesty and decency. This is few days before #AuratMarch pic.twitter.com/sPCNi124Yb
— Shehnila Zardari (@ShehnilaZardari) March 1, 2023
This is not the first time the ‘Aurat March has triggered Islamists in the neighbouring country. Last year, the movement drew severe backlash from the Islamic fundamentalists, who targeted the march with mockery, threats, counter-rallies, slut-shaming, and called its participants “agents of Western immorality”.
Even the year before last, men in Pakistan spewed hate against the women’s movement. Pakistanis had done all in their power to discredit the fight of women for justice and equal rights, from calling it “vulgar,” “un-Islamic,” and equating women with vegetables and animals.
