Many women’s rights activists, including members of Aurat March Islamabad, were detailed by the Islamabad police on Sunday while they were gathering for a rally on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
The organisers and activists were gathering outside the National Press Club when they were arrested and taken to a women’s police station.
Detained activists include prominent activist Dr Farzana Bari, two of her daughters, and human rights defender Tahira Abdullah, along with other Aurat March organisers and participants. The police station released the protesters after almost 12 hours.
Syeda Kashmala, a laywer and activist, posted on her Instagram account about her experience of being unlawfully detained. She said that she went as a lawyer to check up on the arrested lawyers, but when she went inside the door she was manhandled and arrested. She shared that she was pushed into the same lockup with 70 women and one doorless washroom.
The detainees include anyone who walked towards the designated space, this included organisers, volunteers, passersby, and even a 14-year-old. According to Kashmala, out of the 70 women only 23 were march organisers, volunteers, and rest included beggars, Afghan refugees, women running roadside stalls.
“We were arrested brutally,” shared activist Haleema on her Instagram account about her experience. They dragged us, pushed us, pulled her hair and conducted our body searches multiple times, she said. They arrested teenagers, didn’t let them speak to anyone or contact anyone, they arrested people who came to check up on us, and kept medicine of some of the elderly participants.
Police sources had told Dawn that the gathering was an ‘illegal activity’ as the district administration had not issued a no-objection certificate to Aurat March. Police sources added that the Lal Masjid management had also vowed to stop the march, creating a risk of a possible clash, so it was more appropriate to arrest the activists to avoid a law and order situation.
“Aurat March Karachi is angry and stands in full solidarity with Aurat March Islamabad and all the other activists who have been denied their constitutional right to protest, just because the state is determined to shut down any form of dissent against their interests,” it said in a statement.
