KARACHI: The fifth Aurat March, a country-wide movement and held in several big cities including Lahore and Multan, was staged at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi opposite the Mazar-i-Quaid on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on Tuesday to raise voice against the many injustices while also spreading awareness about the many issues.

The venue mattered. Held for the last four years at the Frere Hall lawns, this time the change of venue also brought about a change in the kind of crowd that attended the programme.

“You know, I have been noticing that there were few people at the Frere Hall, too, last year,” said Manal Khan, a writer.

“The first year, in 2018, was really good but last year it took a hit due to Covid. And now there is again a poor turnout because this place, a bare and uneven ground, is not as inviting as the lawn,” she added.

Mehwish Khan, another visitor observed: “Earlier, people used to come to the Aurat March themselves. Now it looks like they have been brought here.”

There were big buses bringing in the people. The NGO HANDS had brought in many folks in wheelchairs to raise the issues faced by the disabled. But the persons in the wheelchairs were themselves facing issues at Bagh-i-Jinnah as their wheelchairs refused to move on the uneven muddy ground with stones.

International Women’s Day celebrated across Sindh; JI women wing also holds rally

There were the activists and politicians, who had brought with them people belonging to religious minorities. There were teachers who had brought their students with them. There were groups from Lyari, from the fishing villages of Ibrahim Hyderi, from the transgender community.

But Bushra Hafeez and son Abdul Rehman had decided to come on their own though. “This is our first time at the Aurat March. I wanted to come here and see what it is all about so I asked my mother if she would like to accompany me and she said okay,” said the son.

“But I think it is too hot here,” the mother said. “Then I also think that this place won’t be that great security-wise in the dark,” she shrugged and smiled.

Meanwhile, up on the high stage there were ‘Hum Aurtein’ with Sheema Kermani, all dressed in yellow and red to match blooming flame of the forest flowers. They explained things, they spread awareness, they read poetry and they sang. There were motivational songs like ‘Hum Dekhenge’, there were rappers, there was qawwali, there was the dholak and there was dancing to all the music.

Sarah Gill, the young doctor from the transgender community, the first to have landed a house job at JPMC, spoke about the misunderstanding regarding the slogan ‘Mera jism, meri marzi.’ “Please do not confuse that line with anything vulgar because it is not,” she said.

“We want equality in several things including respect. And we only come out to demand our rights on this day when we celebrate Women’s Day. And some can’t even tolerate this,” she said.

Nomi Basheer, a nurse, came up to speak about the difficulties she faced in her career. She said that there was a huge shortage of nurses in our country.

Virsa Pirzado spoke about the difficulties she faced as a student. “I face discrimination and gender-specific threats,” she shared.

Tehmina, a polio worker, said that there were 106,000 polio workers in the country who went about their work with death looming over their heads.

“For 24 years now, we have been going to every home to administer drops to children and save them from the crippling disease. For this we are not even paid the minimum wage and we don’t even have permanent jobs,” she said.

Shaheen Gul represented domestic workers who were often ill-treated as if they were slaves. She also pointed to the horrifying fact that many young domestic workers also got raped.

Sohni, represented the missing persons. “Our men are missing. They have been picked up and we women and our children lead hard deprived lives without our earning family members,” she said.

Sonia spoke about the insecurities and difficulties of the displaced on Gujjar and Orangi Nullahs, many of whom were still forced to live under the open sky.

Like at every Aurat March there were also the posters and placards that deserve special mention such as ‘Inko masla jism se nahi/marzi se hai’, ‘Men of quality/support gender equality’, ‘Meray paas mein hoon’, etc.

The actual crowd gathered at the ground after the setting of the sun. Then the large number of people picked up their posters and placards and marched outside the park gates to turn at Numaish and go right up to Capri Cinema and back.

Jamaat-i-Islami women walk

In accordance with International Women’s Day, the Women’s Wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Karachi walked outside the Karachi Press Club to demand due rights for women in society.

A large number of students and women from all walks of life participated in the walk. The participants, carried placards and banners, chanting slogans for the rights of women and also against some slogans, which they thought were controversial, misleading, and not reflecting the original issues of women in the country.

JI Karachi chief Engr Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman in his address demanded of the government to ensure the provision of due rights to women in the society.

The JI leader said that the prevailing capitalist order of the world was usurping the rights of both women and men. He added that both corporate culture and feudalism were responsible for the miseries of women in society.

Home-based Women Workers’ rally

A huge rally was organised by Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) from Fawara Chowk to the Arts Council of Pakistan followed by a cultural show there. Addressing the rally, HBWWF General Secretary Zehra Khan said that violence against women had raised to an alarming level. “Women are not safe in homes, streets, neighborhoods, factories, offices and educational institutions.”

She said as per an estimate more than 70 per cent of women faced domestic violence. Regarding violent actions against women, especially murders, she said that Pakistan was the third most dangerous country of the world. Every fifth woman murdered under the so-called honour killing belonged to Pakistan.

She further said that in the educational institutions of Pakistan, the incidents of harassment and violence against female students and women employees had grown sharply.

Among other things, the rally demanded equal wages for equal work, registration of all workers, maternity leaves, protection against workplace harassment and childcare centres.

Similar marches and programmes were held in several Sindh towns to mark the day.

HYDERABAD: Women Action Forum (WAF) organised a procession from Shahbaz Building to local press club where the activists sang and danced to celebrate the women’s day.

Noted writer Noorul Huda Shah, Amar Sindhu, Arfana Mallah and Aliya Bakhshal said at the gathering that Sindh’s women were killed in the name of honour and faced tyranny under patriarchal society. They demanded separate courts for trying cases involving women.

The WAF issued a declaration on the occasion, vowing to eliminate all gender-based violence and work-based suppression of women. It reiterated waging struggle for the elimination of servitude of women, all forms of exploitation, torture, attainment of equitable rights and civil liberties.

It called for dissolution of Council of Islamic Ideology and Federal Shariat Court, legal protection to minority women and adequate laws on religious conversion.

SUKKUR: Members of Sindh Suhae Organisation in collaboration with Joint Action Committee took out Aurat March in Kandhkot to observe the women’s day.

The organisation’s chief Dr Aisha Hassan Dharejo and local leaders of political, social and rights organisations, who led the march, condemned harassment, torture, honour-killing and the practice of forced marriage in upper Sindh.

The Department of Political Science at the Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, organised a walk to mark the day. Faculty of Social Sciences dean Prof Dr Taj Mohammad Lashari, who spoke at the march, said that Islam was a champion of human as well as women’s rights.

DADU: Speakers at a seminar on gender equality demanded the government provide opportunities to women to work freely with different organisations in the country.

They said at the moot titled Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow organised by the Institute of Gender Studies at Sindh University’s Dadu campus that discrimination against women could only end through social change.

MIRPURKHAS: Scores of women under the banner of JI staged a walk to mark the women’s day. JI Sindh women’s leaders condemned ‘westernised’ women who wanted to destroy the country’s culture by raising provocative slogans.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2022