Dawn.com’s Salman Siddiqui highlights the challenges women participating in the Long March face.

Lawyer Samina Noman’s scream still reverberates in the minds of all those who watched her on television being accosted by policewomen at the Karachi toll plaza on March 12. Speaking to Dawn.com in Karachi, Mrs. Noman shares her experience of that day just hours before departing for Lahore to join the protest rallies there.

‘Authorities stopped our caravan from crossing the toll plaza,’ says Noman. ‘When our leaders, including Munir Malik, asked the police to make way, they were told that they had orders to arrest everyone. Soon, they started shoving lawyers and political activists into the waiting police vans despite our protest against the high-handedness.

‘I was standing on the sidelines when this was happening; then, all of a sudden, policewomen rushed towards me. I first tried to run back into my bus, but they got hold of me at the entrance of the vehicle. When the policewomen started pulling my clothes, I feared that they might tear my shirt. But thank God that didn’t happen.’

Noman is one of many women who have come out on the streets in support of the lawyers’ movement in the last few days. While women lawyers in Lahore were able to protest safely without being manhandled or obstructed, their colleagues in Karachi were not as lucky. In fact, their plight was bemoaned by PPP stalwart Naheed Khan, who was ashamed at the treatment of women protestors.

Owing to the significant presence of female protestors, policewomen were also deployed at Karachi’s toll plaza on the first day of the march. Regarding their behaviour, Noman says: ‘The policewomen acted ferociously only in front of their superiors. As soon as I was put into the prison van, their attitude changed completely. They said that they didn’t mean to act in that harsh way, but were only obeying orders. I recall one policewoman actually having tears in her eyes and telling me that our struggle is noble and bound to succeed.’

The fact is, women protesters face different challenges when it comes to participating in the Long March. ‘As a woman, it is really difficult to participate in protests, even if the cause is as noble as ours,’ says Noman. ‘There’s a lot of stigma and taboo. Then there’s the danger of getting arrested. My mother was particularly concerned when I was held by the police. It is because of these issues that one doesn’t see many women coming out to protests, even for the causes in which they believe strongly.’ Indeed, despite raising objections, Noman was taken to a men’s police station in Shah Faisal Town Karachi. ‘I believe the objective of the authorities was to scare people and say that if they try to come out on the streets, they’ll meet the same fate, even if they’re women.’