ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday dismissed petitions seeking restrictions on the Aurat March being staged on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Min­allah, while rejecting the petitions, observed that the petitions were not “justiciable”, but also expressed the hope that the participants of the march would exercise their rights in accordance with law.

The petitions were filed to seek a writ to regulate activities which are expected to take place on March 8.

The petitioners expressed app­re­hensions that during the march, slogans which they deemed offensive and in violation of Islamic injunctions would be raised. The petitioners interpreted the expected slogans as obscene and said they felt that the slogans would disturb social harmony and offend established norms.

The activity should be seen as expression of outrage against denial of rights to women, observes Justice Minallah

In his order, Justice Minallah gave a historical background of fundamental rights. He recalled that 14 centuries ago Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) spread the message of Almighty Allah. “It was a revolution which has no parallel in human history. It was a message of peace whereby a human being was declared as the vicegerent of the Creator on earth. It declared humans as a creation in the ‘best of forms’ (Al. Isra; 70). The weak, vulnerable and subjugated were the biggest beneficiaries of this unprecedented revolution. It was an era when female infanticide was rampant and an acceptable norm of the society.”

Explaining women’s rights, the court order said: “The pre-Islamic times did not recognise any rights of the women. The patriarchal culture subjugated and treated women as property. The advent of Islam prohibited female infanticide and gave a woman her own identity. It recognised the right of a woman to enter into a marriage contract based on her free will. For the first time women were given the right to inherit property and to own and manage it on their own. They were given the right to engage in business and their education was declared an obligation of the State. Women were, therefore, given real empowerment centuries before such rights could be enjoyed in other territories. All this was happening at a time when the rest of humanity was treating women as an object and as property, having no rights whatsoever. It was indeed a revolution against the patriarchal and misogynist norms and culture.”

The counsels for the petitioners were asked whether the above-mentioned Islamic injunctions were being followed and implemented in the society today, and if not, then why any expressive conduct on the International Women’s Day might not be interpreted as a demand for those rights given to women by Almighty Allah. The lawyers were asked whether it was not a norm of the society to generally not welcome the birth of a female child.

Justice Minallah observed that the courts across the country were inundated with litigation brought by women against the denial of their inheritance rights. “Mothers, sisters and daughters are denied their rights which have been expressly given to them by Almighty Allah in unambiguous terms in the Holy Quran. In defiance of the explicit commands of Islam, child marriage, rape and honour killings are not uncommon in our society today. Women are forced into marriage against their will. Heinous traditions of Karo-kari, Swara, Wani and other forms of exploitation are being practiced in a state where 97 per cent of the population professes to be Muslim.”

According to the court order, the tribal and other societal norms seem to have taken precedence over the Islamic injunctions. “Female children are not safe and there cannot be a more offensive illustration than the unimaginable pain and agony suffered by the little innocent Zainab. The alarming aspect is that there is no outrage against the practices and mindsets which are a blatant violation of the unambiguous injunctions of Islam. The practices and attitudes highlighted above are prevalent in our society and are public knowledge.

“It is in this context that the International Women’s Day ought to be observed,” the court order states. “It should be observed as a day of introspection. The petitioners and the society should demonstrably show their abhorrence and outrage against the norms of certain sections of our society, which are in defiance to the Islamic injunctions. There is a need to accept the reality and to change mindsets by demonstrably showing outrage against the flagrant violations of the commands of Almighty Allah.”

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2020