- Peaceful protest is the right of every citizen
Last year’s ‘Aurat March’, held on Annual Women’s Day, was met with severe criticism from conservative circles who found the slogans and posters at the gathering offensive and vulgar. All of the outrage, predominantly by males, was after the fact, as the impact of the various demonstrations had not been anticipated. This year, leading up to the 8th of March, there is preemptive action. A petition, submitted in the Lahore High Court, by a lawyer, seeking a permanent ban on the march for being “anti-Islamic” and “anti-state”, was heard by LHC CJ Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh who rightly concluded that any such ban would be an infringement upon freedom of expression and therefore could not be put in place. A similar petition was filed by a woman, no less, in Sindh High Court on similar grounds. Such issues are rarely exempt from the attention of religious political parties; JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has warned that the march will be stopped by force by his people if not by the state. In reply, Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari has stated that the march will happen as peaceful protest is a constitutionally mandated right. That the Maulana promoted the peacefulness of his own recent sit-in at Islamabad, is now threatening to forcefully stop a protest much smaller in scale that will only last a day, that too on a Sunday, because its organizers and participants are women who he quite apparently perceives as lesser beings, is hypocrisy and intolerance at its worst. The hate he spewed from atop his container for days has a much more intense and lasting impact on the fabric of society – the misogyny is quite palpable.
There should be no undue restriction on the march; if it is being carried out with the proper permissions and is within the ambit of the law there is no reason to place unnecessary hurdles in the way of the protestors. The purpose of ‘Aurat March’ is to highlight the serious and wide-ranging problems that women a country like Pakistan face while also highlighting their achievements in the face of adversity. The march should be given full support by the relevant security and administrative authorities in all provinces where it is planned to be held and any efforts to sabotage it should be anticipated and stopped.
