Islamabad, March 10 The leadership of Aurat March, civil society members and rights activists have slammed the Pakistani authorities for “manhandling and threatening them and forcing them to sign unreasonable affidavits”, local media reported on Tuesday.
While addressing a press conference at the National Press Club, they demanded a probe into the incident and action against those involved in it. Their remarks came after several women's rights activists, including Aurat March members, were arrested by police in Islamabad before a rally they had planned to hold on the occasion of International Women's Day on Sunday.
Farzana Bari, a prominent activist who was also detained along with her daughters, noted that the march was held each year, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported. "We were aware that Section 144 was imposed in the federal capital, but civil society does not accept any law which is in violation of basic rights. You cannot take away our right to protest. Similar protests were held across the globe, but we were stopped by the threat that a suicide bomber had come and that it might blow up," she stated.
Police on Monday released more than 40 participants of Aurat March. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Secretary General Haris Khaliq said that they don't believe in the violation of the law, however, societies can't run with laws like the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and others.
"Yesterday girls were manhandled and beaten. They were taken into custody and shifted to a women police station. When their relatives and friends reached there, they were also locked up. Baton charge was used against the girls, their hair was pulled, and they were forced to sign fake affidavits," Dawn quoted Khaliq as saying.
He said that HRCP had demanded investigation into the matter and departmental action against those involved. A lawyer, Kashmala, said she requested police to allow her to meet protesters. "Three policewomen grabbed me and said ‘main tumhari wakalat nikalti hoon’. They also locked me in a small lockup in which there were around 80 persons. The condition of the toilet was bad and it even lacked soap," she said.
One of the leaders, who was detained on Sunday, questioned authorities on why they were not informed about the threat before and told that march should not be held.
"We were kept in a lockup and were not allowed to meet our relatives. There were girls aged from 14 to 73 years and all of them were manhandled. We were put in vehicles and shifted to the police station. Some of the girls faced health problems and suffocated as there were around 80 persons, including children, in the lockup," she said.
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